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Namor, the Sub-Mariner Epic Collection volume 4: Titans Three (1970-1972)


By Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Allyn Brodsky, Sal Buscema, Gene Colan, Ross Andru, George Tuska, Marie Severin, Frank Springer, Mike Esposito, Jim Mooney, Bernie Wrightson, John Severin, Sam Grainger, Tom Palmer, Dick Ayers & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5539-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Salty Stalwart Superhero Action… 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

In his most primal incarnation (other origins are available but may differ due to timeslips, circumstance and screen dimensions) Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the proud, noble but exceedingly bellicose offspring of the union of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer. That doomed romance resulted in a hybrid being of immense strength and extreme resistance to physical harm, able to fly and thrive above and below the waves. Over decades, a wealth of creators have played with the fishy tale and today’s Namor is often hailed as Marvel’s First Mutant. What remains unchallenged is that he was created by young, talented Bill Everett, for abortive cinema premium Motion Picture Weekly Funnies: #1 (October 1939) so – technically – Namor predates Marvel, Atlas & Timely Comics.

The Marine Miracleman first caught the public’s avid attention as part of an elementally appealing fire vs. water headlining team-up in the October 1939 Marvel Comics #1 (which renamed itself Marvel Mystery Comics from #2 onwards. The amphibian antihero shared honours and top billing with The Human Torch, having debuted (albeit in a truncated, monochrome version) in the aforementioned promotional booklet which had been designed to be handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year. The late-starter antihero rapidly emerged as one of the industry’s biggest draws, and won his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated Spring 1941). His appeal was baffling but solid and he was one of the last super-characters to vanish at the end of the first heroic age.

In 1954, when Atlas (as the company then was) briefly revived its “Big Three” – the Torch and Captain America being the other two – Everett returned for an extended run of superbly dark, mordantly timely fantasy fables. However, even his input wasn’t sufficient to keep the title afloat and eventually Sub-Mariner sank again. Seven years later as Stan Lee & Jack Kirby were reinventing superheroes with landmark title Fantastic Four, they revived the awesome, all-but-forgotten aquanaut as a troubled, semi-amnesiac antihero. Decidedly more bombastic, regal and grandiose, this returnee despised humanity: embittered by the loss of his subsea kingdom – seemingly destroyed by atomic testing. His rightful revenge was infinitely complicated after he became utterly besotted with the FF’s Susan Storm.

Namor knocked around the budding Marvel universe for a few years, squabbling with other star turns such as The Hulk, Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil before securing his own series as one half of Tales to Astonish, and duly graduating in 1968 to his own solo title. This fourth subsea selection collects Namor, the Sub-Mariner #28-49, Daredevil #77 and material from Ka-Zar #1 covering August 1970 to May 1972, and sees the sea lord as a recently self-appointed guardian of the safety and ecology of all Earth’s oceans. As we open the Prince of Atlantis furtively returns to the surface world, to recover from wounds earned in service of ungrateful humanity in the company of human Diane Arliss. Wandering Manhattan streets Namor is incensed by the actions of an unrepentant industrial polluter and joins teen protestors fighting developer Sam Westman’s thugs and mega machines in ‘Youthquake!’ before we pause for a little diversion…

Beginning as a Tarzan tribute act relocated to a lost world in a sub-polar realm of swamp-men and dinosaurs, Ka-Zar eventually evolved into one of Marvel’s more complex and mercurial characters. Wealthy heir to one of Britain’s oldest noble families, his best friend is Zabu the “sabretooth tiger”, his wife is feisty environmental-crusader Shanna the She-Devil and his brother is a homicidal super-scientific bandit. Kevin Reginald, Lord Plunder is perpetually torn between the clean life-or-death simplicity of the jungle and the bewildering constant compromises of modern civilisation. The primordial paragon even outranks Namor in terms of longevity, having begun as a prose pulp star, boasting three issues of his own magazine between October 1936 and June 1937. They were authored by Bob Byrd – pseudonym for publisher Martin Goodman or one of a fleet of writers on his staff – and he was latterly shoehorned into a speculative new-fangled comic book venture Marvel Comics #1. There he roamed alongside another pulp mag graduate: The Angel, plus Masked Raider, the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner…

When Ka-Zar reappeared all rowdy and renovated in 1965’s X-Men #10, it was clear the Sovereign of the Savage Land was destined for bigger things. However, for years all he got was guest shots as misunderstood foe du jour for Daredevil, Sub-Mariner, Spider-Man, and the Hulk. In 1969, he took his shot with a solo saga in Marvel Super-Heroes and later that year – after Roy Thomas & Neal Adams used him so effectively in their X-Men run (i#62-63) – was awarded a giant-sized solo title reprinting previous appearances. The title also incongruously offered all-new stories of Hercules and the second, mutant X-Man Angel. That same month, Ka-Zar’s first regular series began in Astonishing Tales. That aforementioned Hercules back up from Ka-Zar #1 (August 1970 by Allyn Brodsky, Frank Springer & Dick Ayers) is reprinted here as prelude to Namor’s next exploits…

‘In his Footsteps… The Huntsman of Zeus!’ sees the Prince of Power on the run from an Olympian agent despatched by the King of the Gods. Following another bitter dispute with his sire, Hercules returns to Earth leaving Ares to foment trouble and prompt Zeus to set his terror-inducing Huntsman on the godling’s trail. After fruitlessly seeking sanctuary with the Avengers, Hercules sees his mortal friends brutally beaten and flees once again…

The panicked rush takes him to Sub-Mariner #29 and the distant Mediterranean where the Huntsman ensorcells Namor and pits him against the fugitive. Although Hercules soon breaks the hypnotic spell, ‘Fear is the Hunter!’ readily revealing why the pursuer is so dreaded as he sends mythical terrors Scylla, Charybdis and Polyphemus against the outcast heroes and pitiful mortals of the region, until a valiant breakthrough ends the threat and forces a paternal reconciliation…

Another guest star treat materialises in #30 as ‘Calling Captain Marvel!’ finds Namor again reduced to a mesmerised puppet: attacking the Kree warrior and human host Rick Jones. This time the condition is due to the amphibian’s falling in battle against toxic terrorist Mr. Markham currently trying to blackmail Earth by threatening to poison the seas with his molecular polluter. Once Mar-Vell batters Namor back to his right mind, they make quick work of the maniac in a concerted twin assault…

Fallout from his recent actions have unsettled Namor’s old friend Triton, and the Inhuman goes looking for the prince in #31, just as apparent Atlantean attacks on surface shipping mounts. Meeting equally concerned human Walt Newell (who operates as undersea Avenger Stingray) they finally find – and fight – Sub-Mariner, only to learn the crisis has been manufactured by his old enemy who is now ‘Attuma Triumphant!’ The barbarian’s plans include destroying human civilisation, but he still has time to pit his captives against each other in a gladiatorial battle to the death; which of course is Attuma’s undoing…

Jim Mooney comes aboard as inker with #32 as a new and deadly enemy debuts in ‘Call Her Llyra… Call Her Legend!’ when fresh human atomic tests prompt Namor to voyage to the Pacific and renew political alliance with the undersea state of Lemuria. However, on arrival he finds noble ruler Karthon replaced by a sinister seductress who lusts for war and harbours a tragic Jekyll & Hyde secret. By the time the prince reaches Atlantis again the Sunken City is being ravaged by seaquakes and old political enemy Byrrah is seizing control from Namor’s deputies and devoted partner Lady Dorma. ‘Come the Cataclysm’ sees him first accuse surface-worlders before locating and defeating the true culprits – an alliance of Byrrah with failed usurper Warlord Krang and malign human mastermind Dr. Dorcas. In the throes of triumph, Namor announces his imminent marriage to Dorma…

Antihero super-nonteam The Defenders officially begin with Sub-Mariner #34-35 (cover-dated February & March 1971). As previously stated, the Prince of Atlantis had become an early and ardent activist and advocate of the ecology movement, and here takes radical steps to save Earth by fractiously recruiting The Hulk and Silver Surfer to help him destroy an American Nuclear Weather-Control station. In ‘Titans Three!’ and concluding chapter ‘Confrontation!’ (Thomas, Sal B & Jim Mooney) the always-misunderstood outcasts unite to battle a despotic dictator’s legions, the US Army, UN defence forces and Avengers to prevent the malfunctioning station vaporising half the planet…

Inked by Berni Wrightson, Sub-Mariner #36 heralds a huge sea change in Namor’s fortunes that begins with time-honoured holy preparations for a happy event as ‘What Gods Have Joined Together!’ Elsewhere, arcane enemy Llyra is resurrected and seeks to steal the throne by abducting and replacing the bride-to-be, whilst Namor is distracted by an invasion of Attuma’s hordes. Ross Andru & Esposito take over illustration with #37 as an era ends and tragedy triumphs, leading to a catastrophic battle on ‘The Way to Dusty Death!’ Betrayed by one of his closest friends and ultimately unable to save his beloved, the heartbroken prince thinks long and hard before abdicating in #38 ‘Namor Agonistes!’ (inked by John Severin): reprising his origins and life choices before choosing to henceforth pursue the human half of his hybrid heritage as a surface dweller…

Despite his abdicating the throne and pursuing the human half of his hybrid heritage as a surface dweller, Namor’s tragic tribulations instantly intensify in Sub-Mariner #39 as seasoned scripter Roy Thomas bows out with ‘…And Here I’ll Stand!’ Illustrated by Andru & Mooney, it sees the former royal arrive in New York City and move onto abandoned, desolate Prison Island. Intrusion is taken for invasion by curmudgeonly human authorities who mobilise the military to drive him out. A tense stand-off soon escalates and a typically bombastic response all round reduces Sub-Mariner’s sanctuary to shards and rubble.

In the aftermath, human friends Diane Arliss and Walt Newell bring the twice-exiled Prince staggering news. Meanwhile in Manhattan – and depicted in Daredevil #77 – Gerry Conway, Gene Colan & Tom Palmer embroil Namor in a 3-way clash after a strange vehicle materialises in Central Park. Irresistibly summoned by telepathic force, Namor arrives just in time for the Sightless Swashbuckler to jump to a wrong conclusion and attack… Then a late-arriving third hero butts in…

Guest stars abound in ‘…And So Enters the Amazing Spider-Man!’ and when the uncanny alien artefact explodes, a mysterious woman ominously invites DD, the webspinner and Namor to participate in a fantastic battle in a far-flung, dimensionally-adrift lost world. Exhausted by the traditional misunderstanding and subsequent fight, Daredevil begs off and goes home, leaving the wallcrawler to join now-nomadic Namor on a fantastic voyage and bizarre adventure that concludes in the Atlantean’s own comic…

Sub-Mariner #40 sees Conway, Colan & Sam Grainger detail how Spider-Man and Namor are compelled ‘…Under the Name of Ritual…’ to save The People of the Black Sea from murderous usurper Turalla. The telepathic subspecies has undisclosed links to Atlantis and a claim on Namor’s honour: demanding he fight on their behalf since their true king has been missing for decades. In distant Boston, angry, reclusive elder Stephan Tuval is psionically aware of what’s transpiring and – just when arachnid and amphibian are about to fall in the brutal duel – strikes with all the terrifying power of his mind…

Returned to Manhattan, the heroes part, and Sub-Mariner #41 reveals Namor following up revelations shared by Diane and Walt. Illustrated by George Tuska & Grainger, ‘Whom the Sky Would Destroy!’ sees the sea lord struck down over rural New York state by mutants artificially created by deranged scientist Aunt Serr. Her son Rock is terrifying, but the real threat is meek, gentle, deceptive Lucile, and before long Namor has fallen to the demonic clan. Considered raw material, the former prince barely escapes destruction in #42’s ‘…And a House Whose Name…is Death!’ as Conway, Tuska & Mooney briskly build to larger epic featuring Tuval. If you’re completist, this issue offers a brief Mr. Kline interlude, as Conway continued an early experiment in close-linked crossover continuity. Issue #42 contributes to the convoluted storyline involving a mystery mastermind from the future, twisting human lives and events. For the full story you should see contemporaneous Iron Man and Daredevil collections: you won’t be any the wiser, but at least you’ll have a complete set…

For one month, Marvel experimented with double-sized comic books (whereas DC’s switch to 52-page issues lasted nearly a year: August 1971 to June 1972 cover-dates). November’s Sub-Mariner #43 held an immense, 3-chapter blockbuster beginning with ‘Mindquake!’ as Namor reaches Boston, still searching for his father Leonard McKenzie, whom he believed had been killed by Atlanteans in the 1920s. Instead, he finds Tuval driven mad by his re-emerging psychic abilities and now a danger to all. Crafted throughout by Conway, Colan & Esposito, the tale of the aged tele-potent reveals how he has built a cult around himself ‘…And the Power of the Mind!’, before his increasingly belligerent acts trigger ‘The Changeling War!’ and cause his downfall…

Cruelly unaware how near he is to his dad, Sub-Mariner is distracted by the return of Llyra and new consort Tiger Shark in #44’s ‘Namor Betrayed!’ Illustrated by magnificent Marie Severin & Mooney, the story reviews the antihero’s love-hate relationship with Human Torch Johnny Storm, just in time for the sultry shapeshifter to orchestrate a heated clash with the teen hero. The blistering battle concludes in #45 with McKenzie’s abduction, as ‘…And Fire Stalks the Skies!’ sees Namor surrender himself to save his sire…

Conway, Colan & Esposito pile on the trauma in #46 in ‘And Always Men Will Cry: Even the Noble Die!’ with the son’s quest ending in death and disaster, despite the best – if badly mismanaged – interventions and intentions of the Torch and Stingray. Doubly orphaned and traumatised, Namor loses his memory again, and is easily gulled by ultimate manipulator Victor Von Doom in #47’s ‘Doomsmasque!’: duly deployed as cannon fodder in the Demon

Doctor’s duel with M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. to control a reality-warping Cosmic Cube.

The war is dirty and many-sided, with a frontal assault in #48’s ‘Twilight of the Hunted!’ leaving Namor to a pyrrhic triumph in concluding chapter ‘The Dream Stone!’ (Frank Giacoia inks) before retrenching in confusion to ponder his obscured future…

To Be Continued…

Sunken treasures salvaged here include Buscema’s cover to all-reprint Sub-Mariner Annual #1 (January 1971, reprising the underwater portions of Tales to Astonish #70-75); Bill Everett’s similar job on Sub-Mariner Annual #2 plus an Everett pinup of the Golden Age iteration, house ads, glorious Marie Severin cover sketches and a vast gallery of original art by Sal B, Tuska, Gil Kane & Giacoia; Andru & Mooney.

Many early Marvel Comics are more exuberant than qualitative, but this volume, especially from an art-lover’s point of view, is a wonderful exception: historical treasures with narrative bite that fans will delight in forever. Moreover, as the Prince of Atlantis is now a bona fide big screen sensation, now might be the time to get wise and impress your friends with a sunken treasure…
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Dandy and Beano Present The Comics at Christmas


By Robert Duncan Low, Dudley D. Watkins, Allan Morley, James Crichton, Davey Law, Eric Roberts, David Sutherland, Ken Reid, Bill Holroyd, Reg Carter, Jim Petrie, Malcolm Judge, Robert Nixon, Barrie Appleby, Gordon Bell, Sam Fair, John Brown, James Clark, Basil Blackaller, Vic Neill, Hugh Morren, Bob McGrath, Tom Paterson, John Sherwood, Hugh McNiel, Jimmy Hughes, Charlie Gordon, George Martin, Jack Prout, Sandy Calder, Charles Grigg, Ron Spencer, the Dinelli Brothers  & many & various (D.D. Thomson & Co, Ltd.)
ISBN: 978-0-85116-636-0 (HB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Evergreen Seasonal Traditions Celebrated and Ideal Last-Minute Gift… 10/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

DC Thompson’s publications have always played a big part in Britain’s Christmas festivities, so let’s revel in the Good Old Days of comics and look at what their publications have offered to celebrate the season via a lovingly curated accumulation of Scotland’s greatest cartoon stars and artisans.

Released in 1997 as part of DC Thomson’s Sixtieth Anniversary celebrations of their children’s periodicals division – which has, more than any other, shaped the psyches of generations of kids – this splendidly oversized (297 x 206mm), exceedingly jolly 144-page hardback compilation justifiably glories in the incredible wealth of ebullient creativity that paraded through the flimsy colourful pages of The Beano and The Dandy during the days and weeks of December from 1937 to the end of the century.

Admittedly, the book required some careful editing and paste-up additions – editorially explaining for younger or more socially evolved readers the subtle changes in attitude that occurred over more than half a century – to tone down and/or expurgate a few of the more egregious terms that don’t sit well with 21st century sensibilities, but otherwise this is a superb cartoon commemoration of a time and state of mind that means so much to us all. It’s also an exquisitely evergreen tribute to cartoon storytelling at its best which could stand a bit more curating and re-release…

The shape and structure of British kids’ cartoon reading owes a huge debt to writer/editor Robert Duncan Low (1895-1980) who was probably DC Thomson’s greatest creative find. Low began at the publishing monolith as a journalist, rising to Managing Editor of Children’s Publications where he conceived and launched (between 1921 and 1933) the company’s Big Five story-papers for boys. Those rip-roaring illustrated prose periodicals comprised Adventure, The Rover, The Wizard, The Skipper and The Hotspur. In 1936 his next brilliant idea was The Fun Section: an 8-page pull-out supplement for Scottish national newspaper The Sunday Post consisting of comic strips. The illustrated accessory premiered on March 8th and from the very outset The Broons and Oor Wullie – both limned by the incomparable Dudley Watkins – were its unchallenged star turns. In December 1937, Low launched DC Thomson’s first weekly pictorial comic. The Dandy was followed by The Beano in 1938 and early-reading title The Magic Comic one year after that. War-time paper shortages and rationing sadly curtailed this strip periodical revolution, and it was 1953 before the next wave of cartoon caper picture-papers. To supplement Beano and Dandy, the ball started rolling again with The Topper, closely followed by a host of new titles like Beezer and Sparky augmenting the expanding post-war line.

Every kid who grew up reading comics has their own personal nostalgia-filled nirvana, and DC Thomson have always sagely left that choice to us whilst striving to keep all eras alive with the carefully-tooled collectors’ albums like this one. These offer the appeal and panache of coffee-table art books; gathering material from nearly nine decades of publishing – plus oodles of original art reproductions – but rather than just tantalising and frustrating incomplete extracts, here the reader gets complete stories starring immortal characters from comics and Christmas Annuals past…

Once upon a time The Dandy was the third-longest running comic in the world (behind Italy’s Il Giornalino (launched in 1924) and America’s Detective Comics in March 1937). Premiering on December 4th 1937, it broke the mould of traditional British predecessors by using word balloons and captions rather than narrative blocks of text under the sequential picture frames. A monster success, it was followed eight months later by The Beano (July 30th 1938) and together they utterly revolutionised how children’s publications looked and, most importantly, were read. Over the decades the “terrible twins” spawned a bevy of unforgettable and beloved household names to delight generations of avidly devoted readers. and end of year celebrations were blessed with extraordinary efforts in the weeklies as well as bumper bonanzas of comics’ stars in breathtakingly addictive hardback annuals.

As WWII progressed rationing of paper and ink forced the “children’s papers” into an alternating fortnightly schedule: on September 6th 1941, only The Dandy was published. A week later just The Beano appeared. Happily, they returned to normal weekly editions on 30th July 1949. During the war the Annuals alternated years too.

This superb celebration of Celtic creativity is packed literally cover-to-cover with brilliant strips. The fun starts on the inside front with a riotous party scene featuring all the assorted favourites, illustrated by indisputable key man Dudley D. Watkins, followed by Korky the Cat frontispiece (by James Crichton), and bombastic title page with western wonderman Desperate Dan standing in for Santa. An introductory spread follows, reliving a manic Davey Law Dennis the Menace Xmas episode from the 1960s, as well as a quartet of Beano Christmas cards from the same era, presaging seasonally-themed comic strip offerings beginning with Dandy delinquent Dirty Dick (by Eric Roberts) and guest star stuffed ‘Xmas Shopping with Biffo the Bear’ (David Sutherland) and Jim Petrie’s Minnie the Minx impatiently ransacking the house for her prezzies also from the 1960s.

There is a selection of Christmas week front pages (actually covers but we never wasted an opportunity for a full gag strip here!), beginning with Beano #169, (December 20th 1941) featuring Reg Carter’s obstreperous ostrich Big Eggo getting well-deserved revenge via Xmas lights during a blackout, after which Colonel Crackpot’s Circus (Malcolm Judge) and Sutherland’s Bash Street Kids frolic as prelude to robot schoolboy Brassneck (Bill Holroyd) demonstrating the meaning of the season in a savvy and sterling spin on A Christmas Carol, even as Robert Nixon – or perhaps Ron Spencer – details how “Red Indian” scamp Little Plum gets a tree for the tribe, before Ken Reid’s wild west rogue Bing-Bang Benny scores a free dinner from his worst enemies, as the triumphs of Roger the Dodger are encapsulated in a multifarious montage of strips by Ken Reid, Barrie Appleby, Gordon Bell and others.

Watkins illuminates Desperate Dan’s attempts to enjoy a white Christmas and Law details similar catastrophic capers for Dennis the Menace before Watkins reveals how the upper class live in a party favour from Beano starring veteran class warriors Lord Snooty and his Pals, after which ‘Jimmy and his Grockle’ (a kind of Doberman dragon) reap just rewards for wrecking other folks’ presents. Illustrated by James Clark, the feature stems from Dandy in 1938, recycled and adapted from prose 1932 “Boys Paper” The Rover – where it was Jimmy Johnson’s Grockle.

Holroyd’s The Tricks of Screwy Driver (a junior handyman inventor of variable efficacy – especially in the Holiday Season) segues to a Biffo front cover strip (Beano #649, December 25th 1954) before the Bash Street Kids destroy a school concert and 1940s feudal adventurer Danny Longlegs (Watkins) delays his voyage East to share the Yule festival with an embattled knight. A montage of Beano B-stars including Sammy Shrinko, Have-a-go-Joe, Little Nell and Peter Pell, The Magic Lollipops, Maxi’s Taxis and Rip Van Wink compliment a triptych of ’40’s Dandy strips Freddy the Fearless Fly (Allan Morley), Hair Oil Hal (John Brown) and Sam Fair’s Meddlesome Matty, easing us into a section concentrating on gluttony and the big blowout as seen in Eric Robert’s hospital-ward feast feature Ginger’s Super Jeep, Basil Blackaller’s Hairy Dan and the saga of a stolen plum pudding and The McTickles (Vic Neill) salutary tale of an escaped Haggis. A classic Korky the Cat Christmas yarn segues neatly into a Reid fantasy romp starring Ali Ha-Ha and the 40 Thieves, after which Hugh Morren’s The Smasher fights for his right to party as prelude to a look at a wartime classic. Sam Fair was – as always – in excoriating top form with superbly manic Addie and Hermy – slapstick assaults on Adolf Hitler and Hermann Wilhelm Goering – and the selection here helped counter Home Front austerity by punfully positing how bad the German High Command were having it…

Football mad Ball Boy (Malcolm Judge) and a vintage Desperate Dan strip lead to more Watkins wonderment via a double-length revel in Lord Snooty’s castle (and no, the topper-wearing posh boy was never the pattern for a certain over-privileged Tory lounging lizard!!! It’s just an uncannily creepy coincidence cum laude and example of life imitating art), before Colonel Crackpot’s Circus stages an encore and Billy Whizz (Judge again) finds time to attend multiple nosh-ups in one short day. Odd couple Big Head and Thick Head (Reid) work far too hard for their places at the youth club bash whereas the ever-ravenous Three Bears (Bob McGrath) literally fall into a festive feast but eternal loser Calamity James (Tom Paterson) loses out yet again, unlike Law’s Corporal Clott who manages to become a hero to his comrades by getting rid of Grinch-like Colonel Grumbly…

A 1940’s Biffo extravaganza starring the entire Beano cast takes us neatly into a rousing comedy romp starring wonderful Eric Roberts’ immortal rascal-conman Winker Watson, who saves his chums from being stuck at school over the holidays in a full-length fable.

What’s Christmas without loot? A host of comics stars weigh in on presents in a section that begins with the cover of The Dandy #358 (December 20th 1947) as Korky’s greed is aptly rewarded, before John Sherwood’s dreamer Les Pretend (He’s Round the Bend!) wakes up frustrated, Dennis the Menace turns unwanted gifts into offensive weapons and – from December 1950 – Hugh McNeil’s Pansy Potter, the Strongman’s Daughter gives Santa Claus an uncomfortably emphatic helping hand…

From 1987, Appleby’s unlovable infants Cuddles and Dimples wreck another Christmas before Desperate Dawg (from 1973 by George Martin) uses canine ingenuity to pimp that legendary sleigh, whilst Dodgy Roger outsmarts himself but still comes up trumps in the gift department. Lassie-like wonder dog Black Bob was popular enough to support his own book series in the 1950s (illustrated by Jack Prout) and here traditionally rendered ‘Black Bob the Dandy Wonder Christmas dog’ sees the hairy paragon raise the flagging spirits of a ward full of ailing bairns before Charles Grigg’s Prince Whoopee (Your Pal from the Palace) (and a strip that could be revived instantly for today’s more cynical, satire-saturated market) learns the downside of childish pranks, after which a tantalising photo feature on assorted Beano and Dandy figurines leads to a montage of ancient robot romps starring with Tin-Can Tommy, the Clockwork Boy (by the Dinelli Brothers & Sam Fair), featuring the mechanical misfit as well as his brother Babe and tin cat Clanky. An extended Xmas excursion for Minnie the Minx and vintage larks with Keyhole Kate (Allan Morley), Gordon Bell’s Pup’s Parade starring the Bash Street Dogs and George Martin’s Sunny Boy – in Santa’s Grotto – bring us to another brilliant cover spread: this one for The Dandy #204, from December 27th 1941, with Korky losing out after trying to outsmart Santa.

A rare prose yuletide yarn starring sagacious moggy Sooty Solomon shares space with a Christmas comic caper concerning Raggy Muffin the Dandy Dog, before Pleasant Presents offers a gaggle of want’s lists from the comics characters before the animal antics resume with doses of doggerel clipped from annual feature Korky’s Christmas Greeting and a lengthy yarn starring Gnasher and his hairy pal Dennis the Menace. Stocking stuffing and tree trimming occupy Roger the Dodger and Tom, Dick and Sally (Dave Jenner?) but Nixon’s Ivy the Terrible is all about the packages. Focus shifts to excerpts from other times of year next, beginning with Prince Whoopee’s bath day, Billy Whizz on ‘Shoesday’ and an April Fool’s Day cover for Dandy #70, from 1939. Following on, ‘Sports Day’ is celebrated on Beano #465 (June 16th 1951)’s cover whilst Desperate Dan turns April 1st into April dooms day before similarly wrecking Easter, Pancake Day and Bonfire Night in a mini marathon of smashing strips. Equally tough and disastrously well-meaning, Pansy Potter in Wonderland makes herself persona non grata with fairy tale folk prior to Lord Snooty and his Pals’ good deed resulting in a catastrophic ‘Biff-day’ before Dennis discovers the joy of graffiti on ‘“Mark-it” Day’.

The section concludes with a Big Eggo Beano cover (#321; November 1st 1947) on a windy day, allowing pint-sized dreamer Wonder Boy to aspire to Santa’s job as Billy Whizz gets a job in the old boy’s grotto and Bully Beef and Chips (Jimmy Hughes) inevitably clash at a party. Watkins delights in depicting Jimmy and his Magic Patch as the lad with a ticket to anywhere stumbles into a north pole plot to burgle Saint Nick. Desperate Dan’s plans to play Santa are sabotaged by his niece & nephew before Sandy Calder’s acrobatic schoolboy avenger Billy the Cat brings to justice a thief who stole the silver from Burnham Academy – and still gets back in time for the school’s Xmas party. George Martin’s school master Jammy Mr. Sammy uses his phenomenal luck to deal with pranksters and thugs whilst Winker Watson fosters a festive feud between his schoolmasters and a local police training college; Nixon’s Grandpa gets Gnomework at a local grotto and Ron Spencer’s bonny bouncing bandit Babyface Finlayson gets locked up to get stuffed, even as The Jocks and the Geordies go to war over sharing an Xmas party, courtesy of the utterly unique stylings of Jimmy Hughes.

Hurtling towards the Eighth Day of Christmas, the final strips here focus on a Ha-Ha-Happy New Year! with a classic Korky confrontation, a harsh Hogmanay hash-up starring Corporal Clott and a frankly disturbing exploit of animal excess and conspicuous consumption from 1940s Bamboo Town as limned by Charlie Gordon. Disaster-prone Dirty Dick shows Eric Roberts at his inspired best in a cautionary tale about resolutions first seen in 1963, allowing the Bash Street Kids and Grandpa to have the cacophonous last words in a brace of action-packed slapstick strips anticipating many more years of fun to come…

Sadly, none of the writers are named and precious few of the artists in this collection but, as always, I’ve offered a best guess as to whom we must thank, and of course I would be so very grateful if anybody seeing this could confirm or deny my suppositions. A miracle of nostalgia and timeless comics marvels, the true magic of this collection is the brilliant art and stories by a host of talents that have literally made Britons who they are today. Bravo to DC Thomson for letting them out to run amok once again and can we do it again, please?

This sturdy celebration of the company’s children’s periodicals division rightly revels in the incredible wealth of ebullient creativity that paraded through their back catalogue: jam-packed with some of the best written, most engagingly drawn strips ever conceived: superbly timeless examples of cartoon storytelling at its best.
© D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd. 1997. All rights reserved.

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Bunny vs Monkey volume 9: Bunny Bonanza!


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-307-3 (Digest PB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Continuous, Chronologically Catered Cosmic Nonsense …9/10

Million-selling, chart-topping Bunny vs Monkey has been the bonkers bristly backbone of The Phoenix since the first issue back in 2012: recounting a madcap vendetta gripping animal archenemies set amidst an idyllic arcadia masquerading as more-or-less mundane but critically endangered English woodlands. Concocted with gleefully gentle mania by cartoonist, comics artist, novelist and educational Man-about-Towns/2024 Illustrator of the Year Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Max and Chaffy, Flember), these trendsetting, mind-bending yarns are wisely retooled as graphic albums available in delightful digest editions like this one – a paperback version of the epic hard cover that opened the year just ending.

All the tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy began yonks ago after an obnoxious little beast plopped down in after a disastrous British space shot. Crashlanding in Crinkle Woods – scant miles from his launch site – lab animal Monkey believed himself the rightful owner of a strange new world, despite all efforts from reasonable, sensible, genteel, contemplative forest resident Bunny to dissuade him. For all his patience, propriety and good breeding, the laid-back lepine could not contain or control the incorrigible idiot ape, who to this day remains a rude, noise-loving, chaos-creating, troublemaking lout intent on building his idealised “Monkeyopia” with or without the aid of evil supergenius ally Skunky or their unhelpful “henches” Metal Steve and Action Beaver…

Problems are exacerbated by other unconventional Crinkle creatures, especially monochrome mad scientist Skunky whose intellect and cavalier attitude to life presents as a propensity for building extremely dangerous robots, bio-beasts and sundry other super-weapons…

Here – with artistic assistance from design deputy Sammy Borras – the war of nerves and mega-ordnances resumes even though everybody thought all the battles had ended. They even seemingly forgot the ever-encroaching Hyoomanz…

Eternally divided into seasonal outbursts, this ninth magnificent hardback archive of insanity opens in the traditional manner: starting slowly with a sudden realisation, by building on the shocking denouement of the last book when the lop-eared good guy cried enough and quit. The cosmically surreal shenanigans resume on New Year’s Day with the woods gripped in snowy winter and still utterly ‘Bunnyless’ after the steadfast voice of reason surprisingly ascended to higher realms to get a little peace and quiet…

As the shellshocked populace (Ai, Pig Piggerton, Weenie Squirrel, Metal E.V.E., Le Fox and Lucky the Red Panda) meander and moan, seeking someone to fill that vacant place, even the anthropoid antithesis feels the loss and builds a replacement but it’s simply ‘Not Bunny’ and ends up scrapped like so many dastardly ploys, compelling morally ambiguous outsider Le Fox to seek change for its own cathartic sake. As he makes his companions ‘Switch Up’, it results in a huge explosion that unearths and awakens their long-lost companion… or does it?

Although apparently back from the Puddle of Eternity thanks to a fluke of the Molecular Stream, “Bunny” has total amnesia and utter incredulity regarding Monkey’s antics – and even more so after he unleashes scatological atrocity weapon ‘Stickleplops’ and learns with some shock that this rabbit has no tolerance for nonsense…

Spring arrives, heralding another harsh lesson after the simian starts lobbing ‘Eggy Drops!’ and Bunny again acts contrary to expectations, before Monkey’s reality-bending ‘Flying Fun’ starts grinding down the forgetful rabbit’s resilience and ongoing attempts to restore lost memories result in a true theatrical travesty in ‘The Show Must Go On’. To facilitate another DNA experiment, Skunky and Monkey raid the Human farm Pig came from and force the tender-hearted refugee to guide them on their ‘Mouldy Mission’ after which an untitled (unless you read music) and silent – but deadly – tale of Skunky’s wind-borne ultimate weapon leads to ‘A Moment of Calm’ for Le Fox, shattered by incessant stupid questions like “where are my socks?” and “have you seen that black hole I made and lost?”

Events take an even stranger turn and Bunny starts being weirdly changeable when Weenie and Pig discover something strange in ‘The Cave’ just as Skunky & Monkey deal with the ghastly contents of the ‘Bin of Doom!’ prior to indulging in pranks and ‘Birthday Wishes!’ for Bunny…

A revolting mess goes on ‘A Blobby Journey’ and attains transcendent loveliness just before ‘The Day the Sky Fell In! (Part one and two)’ sees imminent lunar catastrophe barely averted by the advent of “Danger Sausage” even as Bunny experiences virtual (un)reality in ‘Plugged In’: but still can’t stop Summer starting with ‘The Fastest Monkey in the World’ when the ape idiot gets hold of a super-speed suit…

It’s time for some tragic origin-ing courtesy of ‘Action Beaver: The Early Years’ after which Pig gets a unique pet in ‘Old!’ whilst a diversion to times past sets the scene for future frolics as a couple of pirates bury their ‘Hidden Loot’ blithely unaware how their actions will annoy a monkey centuries from then. Ungracious and solitary, Le Fox dabbles with Skunky’s devices to create a beast able to enforce some ‘Shush!’ just as the evil genius is busy probing the captive Red Panda and discovering exactly what ‘A Little Bit Unlucky’ feels like at ground zero. Maybe that’s what causes the period of intellectual funk and lack of creativity that necessitates holding an ‘Invent-a-thon’ to restore appropriate levels of chaos and carnage to Crinkle Woods…

With Bunny seemingly resolved to endure Monkey’s incessant antics, ‘Nice Neighbours’ displays the ingrained idiocy of Weenie & Pig as seen in a windblown Fantastic Voyage tribute before ‘Butterflew’ sets teeth firmly on edge and ‘The Shubmarine’ that swims through soil meets an inevitable fate…

Events take a strange turn as Autumn begins and ‘Dig Up!’ reveals an incredible subterranean civilisation and fantastic big beasts before ‘Muckey’ sees the simian sod achieve a lifelong dream to become “the stinkiest monkey in the universe” – a situation only remedied by an ancient process hidden in Metal E.V.E’s memory banks…

The ongoing mystery of our hero’s amnesia is slowly solved when cyborg ‘Bunny Law’ targets Monkey, but with Skunky distracted by a cosmic calculation and unable to ‘Work it Out’ the brutal invasion by a really ‘Big Bunny’ proves to the creeped-out Crinkle critters that there is more than one of their friend around. At last galvanised into affirmative action, Monkey resolves to build his Monkeyopia before it’s too late and begins his campaign in ‘Squeak-ooooo’ unaware that his latest superweapon has a fatal flaw. Undeterred, he’s back with cybernetic ‘Fists of Fun’ and able to decimate the woods at will just as ‘Happy Birthday Bunny (Part one & two)’ reveal what really happened to Monkey’s nemesis… and how a terrifying ‘Shadow Bunny’ has come to take care of his unfinished business.

Winter returns with Christmas well on the way and ‘Super-powered Monkey!’ in charge of everything, crushing opposition with his “Doom Fists” under ‘A New Regime’. Happily, ‘A Very Hoppy Christmas!’ signals a true miracle as the proper Bunny returns with all those other rabbit replacements in tow…

The agonised, anxiety-addled animal anarchy might have ended for now, but there’s a few more secrets to share, thanks to detailed instructions on ‘How to Draw Shadow Bunny’, ‘…Rock Bunny’ and ‘…Bunny Law’ as well as handy previews of other treats and wonders available in The Phoenix to wind down from all that angsty furore…

The zany zenith of absurdist adventure, Bunny vs Monkey is weird wild wit, brilliant invention, potent sentiment and superb cartooning all crammed into an eccentrically excellent sequence of pictorial packages.

However, this particular MonkeyPuzzle Madness isn’t actually on sale until January 2nd next year!!!.

Don’t let that deter you, nor should any kids in your orbit suffer for the vagaries of publishers’ scheduling. The hardback version of Bunny vs Monkey: Bunny Bonanza! is still available and it’s the bloody Season of Good Will so there’s no need to wait! These tails never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups and pint-sizers of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. Shouldn’t that be you?
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.

Bunny vs Monkey: Bunny Bonanza! will be published on January 2nd 2025. You can preorder now or not let time hold you back…

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Fantastic Four – Full Circle


By Alex Ross, with Josh Johnson & Ariana Maher (MARVEL Arts)
ISBN: 978-1-4197-6167-6 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-64700-781-2

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Irresistibly Pure, Primal Pandering Nonsense… 8/10

Jacob Kurtzberg – AKA Jack Curtiss, Curt Davis, Lance Kirby, Ted Grey, Charles Nicholas, Fred Sande, Teddy, The King and others – did lots of stuff but most significantly inspired millions if not billions of people by drawing his ideas. This book is one of the most impressive examples of how that all worked out…

Fantastic Four #1 is the third most important comic book ever, behind Action Comics #1 – which introduced Superman and formalised the subgenre we call superheroes – and All Star Comics #3, which invented superhero teams via the debut of The Justice Society of America. Feel free to disagree.

After a troubled period at DC Comics (National Periodicals as it then was) and a creatively productive but disheartening time on the poisoned chalice of the Sky Masters newspaper strip (see Complete Sky Masters of the Space Force), Kirby settled into a presumed temp job at the dying outfit that was once publishing powerhouse Timely/Atlas Comics. There he churned out high quality mystery, monster, war, romance and western material in a market he feared was ultimately doomed, as always doing the best job possible. That generic fare is regarded as the best of its kind ever seen. His soaring imagination couldn’t be suppressed for long, however, and when the Justice League of America caught the public’s collective attention, it gave him and writer/editor Stan Lee opportunity to change our industry forever by creating an opportunistic cash-in called The Fantastic Four.

The result took those same fans by storm. It wasn’t the powers: they’d all been seen since the beginning of the medium. It wasn’t the costumes because they didn’t have any until the third issue. It was Kirby’s compelling art and the fact that these characters weren’t anodyne cardboard cut-outs. In a real and recognizable location – New York City – imperfect, raw-nerved, touchy outsider people banded together out of tragedy, disaster and necessity to face the incredible. In many ways, The Challengers of the Unknown (Jack’s prototype partners-in-peril for National/DC) had already laid all the groundwork for the wonders to come, but staid, nigh-hidebound editorial strictures of the market leader would never have allowed the undiluted energy of the concept to run all-but-unregulated.

Concocted by “Lee & Kirby”, with inks by George Klein & Christopher Rule, FF #1 (bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961) saw maverick scientist Dr. Reed Richards summon fiancée Sue Storm, their close friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s teenaged brother before heading off on their first mission. They are all survivors of a private space-shot that went horribly wrong when Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding and mutated them all. Richards’ body became elastic, Sue gained the power to turn invisible, Johnny Storm could turn into living flame and tragic Ben devolved into a shambling, rocky freak. It was crude, rough, passionate and uncontrolled excitement unlike anything young fans had ever seen before. Thrill-hungry kids pounced on it and the raw storytelling caught a wave of change starting to build in America. It and succeeding issues changed comic books forever.

So much so that this slim yet epic arts extravaganza by uberfan/creator Alex Ross (Marvels, Kingdom Come, Astro City, Project Superpowers) dipped into one specific issue and the era encompassing it to create his next leap in sequential graphic storytelling.

Co-produced by Marvel and Abrams ComicArts, Fantastic Four: Full Circle is a vividly vibrant pastiche of and thematic sequel to what many fans consider the greatest single FF story ever. Illustrated by Kirby and inked by Joe Sinnott, ‘This Man… This Monster!’ saw Ben Grimm’s grotesque body usurped and stolen by a vengeful, petty-minded scientist harbouring a grudge against Reed. The anonymous boffin subsequently discovered the true measure of his unsuspecting intellectual rival and willingly paid a fateful price for his envy…

By this time the monthly title was the most consistently groundbreaking publication in Marvel’s stable: the indisputable core of its ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation. As the forge for fresh concepts and characters at a time when Kirby was in his conceptual prime and unleashing his vast imagination, Fantastic Four was the most passionate superhero comic series fans had ever seen, and here Ross combines his own response to that: incorporating other milestones of those moments into a visually stunning tale set amidst that marvellous milieu.

Although this hark-back to halcyon days is literally all about the visual verve, fanboys like me can also be assured that continuity and characterisation are also faithful extrapolations – albeit with the painful sixties gender stereotyping given a thorough going over – of what has gone before, augmenting a spectacular tribute to those glory days…

The initial release in a proposed range of high end experimental graphic narratives, Full Circle opens with someone the first family never thought they’d see again almost unleashing an insectile invasion from the Negative Zone. Saddling up, Sue, Reed, Ben and Johnny return to the antimatter universe in search of answers and uncover a deadly plot, a miraculous revelation, an unsuspected new world to explore and a series of shocking surprises, as well as more mischief in the making from former foes Annihilus and Janus the Nega-Man…

As “the first longform work” written and illustrated by Ross, this is an explosion of colour, wild layouts, narrative sallies and retro psychedelia, with additional colour input from Josh Johnson and Ariana Maher putting the words in to get as close to reviving the long gone past as any incurable nostalgic could ever want.
© 2022 MARVEL.

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Dear DC Super-Villains


By Michael Northrop & Gustavo Duarte, coloured by Cris Peter & lettered by Wes Abbott (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1779500540 (PB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Ideal to Steal Stocking Stuffer… 9/10 (just give it back after reading, okay?)

Superheroes are purely iconic embodiments if not “perfectualisations” of a whole bunch of deep things about humans. Ask any psychologist or modern philosopher. Sadly, such pristine intellectualisations don’t cut much ice (just ask Captain Cold) in the stories-for-money racket; and every hero from Gilgamesh to the Scarlet Pimpernel and every sleuth and super-doer since mass entertainment began owes a huge recurring debt to the bad lurking in the shadows or monster rampaging down main street.

DC have a particularly fine stable of misguided miscreants, justifiable revengers and thieving psychotic loons – just look at how many have their own titles, shows and films – and their antics as much as the heroes we’re supposed to admire are part of children’s awareness and maturing processes (even boys, who I’m forced to admit frequently grow up by a different set of metrics to girls or other flavours of kids).

Reprising or rather expanding their 2019 hit, Michael Northrop (Trapped, Plunked, Gentlemen, TombQuest) and Gustavo Duarte (Bizarro, Monsters! and Other Stories link both please), turn their delightful comedic eyes on the bad guys who might well be a Legion of Doom but still have it in them to answer a few salient questions from some curious kids with a really good search engines…

In Cairo, a major heist is capped by a relaxing moment of downtime as Selina Kyle responds to a ‘Dear Catwoman’ query about getting caught, whilst Earth’s most maximumly imprisoned mad scientist accepts a rash challenge from a heckler who thinks he’s safely anonymous in ‘Dear Lex Luthor’ and ‘Dear Harley Quinn’ shares her experiences of stand-up comedy and chaotic behaviour…

All these messages come courtesy of the Legion of Doom forwarding service but the would-be world conquerors are generally fretful and bad tempered while trying to find a new leader. Those tensions a painfully apparent in ‘Dear Gorilla Grodd’ as the Super-Ape shares school memories – but never bananas – even as ‘Dear Giganta’ offers advice on bullies and being the tallest girl in class.

When a disabled girl challenges ‘Dear Sinestro’ to examine his motivations, it sparks an unexpected sentimental response, and even ruthless hardcase rogue ronin ‘Dear Katana’ also reassesses her life after opening a succinctly sharp email question, whereas the modern-day pirate king only gets “fished” after clicking on ‘Dear Black Manta’, leading to a long-awaited calamitous convergence, supervillain showdown and inevitable big battle with the JLA in concluding chapter ‘Dear DC Super-Villains’…

Big, bold, daft and deliriously addictive, this in another superb all-ages action romp packed with laughs and delivering a grand experience for any who red it. Extra material includes ‘Who’s Who in the Legion of Doom’ of the heroes, and creator biographies in ‘Auxiliary Members!’ plus an extract from Metropolis Grove by Drew Brockington. If you love comics and want others to as well you couldn’t do more that point potential fans this way. Actually, just show, tell, or email them: pointing is rude…
© 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Dear Justice League


By Michael Northrop & Gustavo Duarte, coloured by Ma Maiolo & lettered by Wes Abbott (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8413-8 (PB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Comic Perfection and Ideal Stocking Stuffer… 10/10

Keystone of the DC Universe, the Justice League of America is the reason we have a comics industry today. After the actual invention of the comic book superhero – for which read the launch of Superman in June 1938 – the most significant event in the industry’s progress was the combination of individual sales-points into a group. Thus, what seems blindingly obvious to everyone blessed with four-colour hindsight was irrefutably proven: a number of popular characters combining forces can multiply readership. Plus of course, a whole bunch of superheroes is a lot cooler than just one – or even one and a sidekick…

The Justice Society of America is rightly revered as a landmark in industry development but faded and failed after tastes changed at the end of the 1940s. When Julius Schwartz began reviving and revitalising the nigh-defunct superhero genre in 1956 the true turning point came a few years later with the (inevitable?) teaming of his freshly reconfigured mystery men. When wedded to relatively unchanged costumed big guns who had weathered the first fall of the Superhero, the result was a new, modern, Space-Age version of the JSA and the birth of a new mythology.

The moment that changed everything for us baby-boomers came with The Brave and the Bold #28 (cover dated March 1960): a classical adventure title recently retooled as a try-out magazine like Showcase. Just in time for Christmas 1959, ads began running…

“Just Imagine! The mightiest heroes of our time… have banded together as the Justice League of America to stamp out the forces of evil wherever and whenever they appear!”

When the JLA launched it cemented the growth and validity of the genre, triggering an explosion of new characters at every company producing comics in America and even spread to the rest of the world as the 1960s progressed. Superheroics have waned since, but never gone away, and remain a trigger point for all us kids. However, comics have grown serious and mature, and we increasingly left the kids out of the equation, letting TV cartoons pick up the slack. Even the roster in this tale is informed as much by animation adventures as potent printed page-turners…

Well, superheroes are still kids’ stuff as this superb book – and its sequel – attest. An early entry in DC’s project to bring their characters back to young readers, Dear Justice League takes all the iconic riffs and paraphernalia attached to the team and comedically runs wild with a core conceit: the heroes individually answering emails – or other, older, lesser communications – from young fans with problems to share or questions needing answers.

Played strictly for laughs by Brazilian illustrator/slapstick maestro Gustavo Duarte (Bizarro, Monsters! and Other Stories link both please), the segmented saga is composed by author and journalist Michael Northrop (Trapped, Plunked, Gentlemen, TombQuest) who blends charm with wit and a great deal of heart for maximum effects.

It begins as long-suffering little Ben Silsby gets under some steel-hard skin by texting ‘Dear Superman’, whilst ‘Dear Hawkgirl’ distracts the winged wonder so much during an alien bug battle that she neglects her beloved hamster. Although old foe Black Manta is no problem, the Sea King reads a ‘Dear Aquaman’ question and must ponder hygiene issues to the point of upsetting Hall of Justice roommate Purdey (his goldfish)…

As the team convene to discuss big bug activity, a ‘Dear Wonder Woman’ direct message send the Amazing Amazon off on an embarrassing memory moment whilst ‘Dear Flash’ takes on bullies, poor concentration and bad parenting, ‘Dear Green Lantern’ trades fashion tips and colour swatches with grade school diva-to-be Shalene and ‘Dear Cyborg’ finds a different kind of opponent online and ready to rock…

Ultimate paranoid the Dark Knight doesn’t do email and must find another way to respond to a ‘Dear Batman’ that sets his sentimental heart and brutal boyhood into perspective, which all sets the scene for ET extermination excitement as the bug subplot rattling through all the vignettes boils over into all-ages cartoon action in blockbuster finale ‘Dear Justice League’…

Pure comics nostalgia writ large and hard hitting. Enjoy all you oldster kids…

Extra material includes creator biographies, the ‘Hall of Justice Top Secret Files (No Peeking!)’ of our heroes, and their animal ‘Auxiliary Members!’ before concluding with come-hither extracts from other kid-friendly books in the line (specifically the sequel plugged next) and Superman of Smallville by Art Baltazar & Franco.

Fun, deceptively thrilling and infinitely re-readable, this old school treat is a must have item for anyone who loves superheroes.
© 2019, DC Comics All Rights Reserved.

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Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Epic Collection volume 2: Berlin Breakout (1965-1966)


By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Dick Ayers, Frank Giacoia, John Tartaglione, Carl Hubbell, Jack Kirby, Art Simek, Sam Rosen & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-5254-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Nostalgic Traditional Blockbuster Fare… 8/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos began as an improbable, decidedly over-the-top, rowdily raucous WWII combat comics series similar in tone to later ensemble action movies such as The Magnificent Seven, Wild Bunch and Dirty Dozen. The surly squad of sorry social misfits and roguish reprobates premiered in May 1963, one of three action teams concocted by creative men-on-fire Jack Kirby & Stan Lee to secure fledgling Marvel’s growing position as the comics publisher to watch. Two years later Fury’s post-war self was retooled as star of a second series (beginning with Strange Tales #135, August 1965) as TV espionage shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. or Mission: Impossible and the James Bond film franchise and its many imitators such as Matt Helm and Our Man Flint became global sensations.

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. combined Cold War tensions with sinister schemes of World Domination by subversive all-encompassing hidden enemy organisations: with captivating super-science gadgetry and iconic imagineering from Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko. For all that time, however, the original wartime version soldiered on (sorry: puns are my weapon of choice), blending Marvel’s uniquely flamboyant house-bravado style and often ludicrous, implausible, historically inaccurate, all-action bombast with moments of genuine heartbreak, unbridled passion and seething emotion.

Sgt. Fury started out as a pure Kirby creation. As with all his various combat comics, The King made everything look harsh and real and appalling: the people and places all grimy, tired, battered yet indomitable. Here, he is only represented by stunning covers; and only until his pal and successor Dick Ayers was trusted to handle those too…

Both artists had served – Kirby in some of the worst battles of the war – and never forgot the horrific and heroic things he saw. However, even at kid-friendly, Comics Code-sanitised Marvel, those experiences perpetually leaked through onto powerfully gripping pages. Kirby was – unfortunately – far too valuable a resource to squander on a simple genre war comic (or indeed the X-Men and Avengers: the other series launched in that tripartite blitz on kids’ spending money). He was quickly moved on, leaving redoubtable fellow veteran Ayers to illuminate later stories, which he did for almost the entire run of the series (95 issues plus Annuals) until its transition to a reprint title with #121 (July 1974). The title then carried on until its ultimate demise, with #167, in December 1981.

Former serviceman Lee remained as scripter until he too was pulled away by the rapidly developing – not to say exploding – Marvel phenomenon. From there a succession of youthful, next-generation non-serving writers took over, beginning with Roy Thomas. This epic compendium re-presents the contents of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #20-36 and Annual #1 & 2 (cover dated July 1965 to November 1966). These stripped down compilations don’t carry fripperies, so just pick it up as we go along or consult the previous edition for introductions to the First Attack Squad; Able Company. They were Fury, former circus strongman/Corporal “Dum-Dum” Dugan and privates Robert “Rebel” Ralston (a Kentucky jockey), jazz trumpeter Gabriel Jones, mechanic Izzy Cohen and glamorous movie heartthrob Dino Manelli. The squad was still reeling from the death of comrade Jonathan “Junior” Juniper and were adjusting to his replacement by a British soldier named Percival Pinkerton. Controversially – even in the 1960s – this battle Rat Pack was an integrated unit with Jewish and black members as well as Catholics, Southern Baptists and New York white guys all merrily serving together. The Howlers pushed envelopes and busted taboos from the very start…

As this volume opens the unit are coping with another loss: the death of Fury’s fiancée English aristocrat Lady Pamela Hawley and the purely personal mission of vengeance that followed. Lee scripted, Ayers pencilled and Frank Giacoia (as Frankie Ray) inked a far grimmer Fury who was still in the mood for cathartic carnage in #20. When ‘The Blitz Squad Strikes!’ features Baron Strucker’s handpicked squad of German Kommandos invading a Scottish castle filled with imprisoned Nazi airmen, Nick and the boys are more than delighted to lead a sortie to retake it. In the next issue the long-running rivalry with First Attack Squad; Baker Company again results in frantic fisticuffs before being interrupted by another last-ditch rescue mission in Czechoslovakia ‘To Free a Hostage!’ – inked by Golden Age legend Carl Hubbell, as was the next issue after that.

Sadly, even after Allied scientist and captive daughter are reunited, the bubbling beef with B Company doesn’t diminish and when both units are subsequently sent to sabotage the oil refinery at Ploesti, the defending forces capture everybody. However, after the gloating Nazis try making Fury and his opposite number kill each they quickly learn ‘Don’t Turn Your Back on Bull McGiveney!’ and even Strucker’s Blitz Squad can’t contain the devastating debacle of destruction that follows…

Giacoia inks ‘The Man Who Failed!’, wherein a rescue jaunt to Burma to save nuns and orphans results in shameful revelations from English Howler Percy Pinkerton’s past, supplying close insight into why our True Brit upper lips are so stiff…

In close pursuit is the 15-page lead story from Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos King Size Annual #1 (1965) as post-war Howlers are called up and mustered to the 38th Parallel to defend democracy from Communist aggression. This particular escapade sees them rescuing former Commanding Officer Colonel Sam Sawyer and results in Fury winning a battlefield ‘Commission in Korea!’ to at last become a Lieutenant in a rousing romp by Lee, Ayers & Giacoia. Also extracted from that special are pictorial features ‘A Re-introduction to the Howlers’; ‘A Birds Eye View of HQ, Able Company – Fury’s Base in Britain’; ‘Plane’s-Eye View of Base Tactical Area, Sub-Pen, Dock and Air-Strip!’ and ‘Combat Arm and Hand Signals’, before a 2-page house ad plugs the hero’s super-spy iteration as ‘Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ to wrap everything up in Marvel’s military fashion.

After that milestone it’s back to WWII for Lee, Ayers & Giacoia as the war-weary combatants head back to America in ‘When the Howlers Hit the Home Front!’ Of course, they find plenty of trouble when comrade/Kentucky gentleman Rebel and his family are captured by Nazi Bundists and the First Attack Squad forgoes fun to rush to the rescue. At adventure’s end, however, the victorious team are forced to leave grievously wounded corporal Dum Dum Dugan behind to recuperate…

John Tartaglione signed on as regular inker for ‘Every Man My Enemy!’ as the unit return to Britain to commence a secret mission and expose a spy who has infiltrated their Army camp. The hunt eventually uncovers one of history’s greatest super-villains and leads to the first of many deadly clashes between Fury and the most dangerous man alive…

Golden Age veteran Carl Hubbell deployed his pens and brushes on ‘Dum Dum Does It the Hard Way!’, as the doughty corporal is shot down in the Atlantic whilst attempting to rejoin the Howlers, precipitating a stirring saga of privation and courage as the flight crew’s life raft is picked up by merciless U-Boat commander Vice Admiral Ribbondorf – the Sea Shark! That move was only the Nazi’s first mistake…

In #27 Lee, Ayers & Tartaglione reveals the origin of our sturdy sergeant’s optical injury (which would, in later life, lead to his adopting that stylish eyepatch) when the squad are despatched to Germany to destroy a new Nazi beam weapon. A now-obligatory SNAFU separates the squad and ‘Fury Fights Alone!’ before finally escaping “Festung Europa” and battling his way back to Blighty.

Previously, readers saw how Hitler demanded his elite field commander should form a specialist unit to surpass Fury’s Commandos. The result was The Blitzkrieg Squad of Baron Strucker… and they repeatedly proved utterly ineffectual. Now the Fuhrer gives his once-favoured Prussian aristocrat one last chance to prove himself by obliterating French town (and Resistance stronghold) Cherbeaux: a task even the disaffected Junker feels is a step too far. With the town mined and the population imprisoned within, Fury’s Commandos are sent to stop the threatened atrocity in ‘Not a Man Shall Remain Alive!’ with the battle in the streets ending in another spectacular face-off between the icons of two warring ideologies and ‘Armageddon!’ for the hostage city…

With Strucker’s threat seemingly ended, Roy Thomas begins his run with ‘Incident in Italy!’ as the First Attack Squad parachute into a trap and are locked up in a POW camp. With the spotlight on former movie idol Dino, the Howlers link up with partisans, bust open the camp, free the captives and blaze their way back to liberty, before ‘Into the Jaws of… Death!’ sees the heroes retraining for underwater demolitions before being distracted by the abduction of their commander, Happy Sam Sawyer. It’s the biggest – and last – mistake this bunch of Gestapo goons ever make, and is followed by another episode of infernal intrigue as one of the Howlers is insidiously indoctrinated, turning against his comrades as they battle for their lives in Norway while dealing with ‘A Traitor in Our Midst!’…

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Annual #2 was released in August 1966, offering a brace of reprints (not included here) plus an all-new but out-of-continuity tale by Thomas, Ayers & Tartaglione. ‘A Day of Thunder!’ is set on June 5th 1944, rousingly revealing the pivotal role the Howling Commandos play in paving the way for D-Day…

Crafted by regulars Thomas, Ayers and inker John Tartaglione, the monthly action resumes with ‘The Grandeur that was Greece…’ as the Howlers are despatched to aid partisans and freedom fighters keeping Greek treasures and historical artefacts out of Nazi hands. Sadly, it’s all an elaborate trap that leaves many good men dead and the unit captured with only Fury free to save them. Bloodied but unbowed, Fury then reviews his barnstorming early life and ‘The Origin of the Howlers!’ before #35 sees him infiltrate the heart of Nazi darkness to stage a ‘Berlin Breakout!’ of the captive Commandos, with the assistance arch rival Sgt. Bull McGiveney and old comrade Eric Koenig – an anti-fascist German with plenty of reasons to fight the Reich…

With the mission deemed a qualified success, ‘My Brother, My Enemy!’ closes proceedings as Koenig join the squad, replacing a Howler who didn’t return intact. His first official outing takes the team to neutral Switzerland to intercept a Nazi strategist en route to Italy, burdened with the secret that their fanatical target was once his dearest childhood friend…

To be Continued…

Gilding this gladiatorial lily, the book signs off with a wealth of stunning original art covers and pages from Ayers (including unused cover art). Whereas close competitor DC increasingly abandoned the Death or Glory bombast at this time in favour of humanistic, almost anti-war explorations of war and soldiering, Marvel’s take always favoured action-entertainment and fantasy over soul-searching for ultimate truths. On that level at least, these early epics are stunningly effective and galvanically powerful exhibitions of the genre.

Just don’t use them for history homework or to win a pub quiz.
© 2023 MARVEL.

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Predator vs Wolverine


By Benjamin Percy, Andrea Di Vito, Greg Land & Jay Leisten, Ken Lashley, Hayden Sherman, Kei Zama, Gavin Guidry, Frank D’Armata, Juan Fernandez, Alex Guimarães, Matthew Wilson & various  (20th Century Studios/MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-302955045 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Irresistibly Purely Primal Pandering Nonsense… 8/10

Although I’ve striven long and hard(ish) to validate and popularise comics as a true art form here and elsewhere, it’s quite hard to escape one’s roots, and every so often the urge to revel in well-made, all-out mindless violence and crass commercialism masquerading as what the reader wants just takes me over. If there’s a similar little kid inside you, this unchallenging, arty no-brainer team-up property might just clear the palate for the next worthy treat I’ll be boosting…

Predator was first seen in the eponymous 1987 movie and started appearing in comic book extensions and continuations published by Dark Horse with the 4-issue miniseries Predator: Concrete Jungle spanning June 1989 to March 1990. It was followed by 39 further self-contained outings and (by my count thus far) 14 crossover clashes ranging from Batman and Superman to Judge Dredd, Archie Andrews and Tarzan, keeping the franchise alive and kicking whilst movie iterations waxed and waned. Two of the most recent involve stalwart movie sensations the Black Panther and Wolverine.

That latter has been remarkable restrained in intercompany outreach projects thus far.

Wolverine is all things to most people and in his long life has worn many hats: Comrade, Ally, Avenger, Father Figure, Teacher, Protector, Punisher. He first saw print in a tantalising teaser-glimpse at the end of Incredible Hulk #180 (cover-dated October 1974 – So Happy 50th, Eyy?). That peek devolved into a full-on if inconclusive scrap with the Green Goliath and accursed cannibal critter Wendigo in the next issue. Canada’s super-agent was just one more throwaway foe for Marvel’s mightiest monster-star and subsequently vanished until All-New, All Different X-Men launched the following year.

The semi/occasionally feral mutant with fearsome claws and killer attitude rode – or perhaps fuelled – the meteoric rise of those rebooted outcast heroes. He inevitably won a miniseries try-out and his own series: two in fact, in fortnightly anthology Marvel Comics Presents and an eponymous monthly book (of which more later and elsewhere). In guest shots across the MU plus myriad cartoons (beginning with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in 1982) and movies (from X-Men in 2000) – he has carved out a unique slice of superstar status and never looked back.

Over those years many untold tales of the aged agent explored his erased exploits in ever-increasing intensity and detail. Gradually, many secret origins and revelatory disclosures regarding his extended, self-obscured life slowly seeped out. Afflicted with periodic bouts of amnesia, mind-wiped ad nauseum by sinister foes or well-meaning associates, the lethal lost boy clocked up a lot of adventurous living – but didn’t remember much of it. This permanently unploughed field conveniently resulted in a crop of dramatically mysterious, undisclosed back-histories. Over the course of his X-Men outings, many clues to his early years manifested, such as an inexplicable familiarity with Japanese culture and history, but these turned out to be only steps back, not the true story…

In this co-production those lost days neatly plug into a saga of vengeance and vendetta spanning more than a century, but which, I strongly suspect, will not play a large part in mainstream Marvel continuity for all the guest stars involved…

The teeth-tightly-clenched tale by Bejamin Percy sees the embattled mutant fleeing across contemporary frozen Canada pursued by an invisible killer with death rays and sharp projectiles and definitely on the losing end of this tussle. As he flees, lashes out and howls at bay his much-abused mind flicks back to previous encounters with this particular hunter, who has seemingly stalked its prey for over a century…

Brutal and uncompromising, the savage close calls are revisited in flashbacks by a tag team of artists – Ken Lashley handling the present day; Greg Land & Jay Leisten depicting young James Howlett circa 1900 in Alaska, and Andrea Di Vito limning a covert South American mission beside Sabretooth, Maverick, Jackson and Kruel when Codename Wolverine was a memory-edited spy with Team X. Every incident ended with an alien attack and the mutant barely escaping…

Other key moments are included, as when the relentless monster invaded the Weapon X facility in Alberta, just as the burned-out secret agent is being forcibly infused with Adamantium (illustrated by Hayden Sherman), Kei Zama’s lyrical rendition of Logan and swordsmaster Muramasa battling Hand ninjas and the remorseless invisible hunter, and Gavin Guidry depicting the early Westchester Mansion era where even a full X-Men team are helpless against the single-minded space invader. In case you were wondering, each section is collaboratively coloured by Juan Fernandez, Frank D’Armata, Alex Guimarães & Matthew Wilson and lettered by VC’s Cory Petit. Ultimately by returning to today the chase comes to a cataclysmic close…

Like the films, what’s on offer is a thinly disguised excuse for mindless, cathartic violence and rollercoaster thrills and chills, and it’s all accomplished with compelling style and dedication.

Wildly implausible, edgily daft and thoroughly entertaining, the original 2023 4-part miniseries came with a variety of cover choices. Capping the furious fun is an extended gallery included here courtesy of Peach Momoko, Mike McKone & Rachelle Rosenberg, Alex Maleev, Skottie Young, Inhyuk Lee, Stephen Segovia & Romulo Fajardo Jr., Steven McNiven & D’Amarta, Gary Frank & Brad Anderson, Javi Fernández & Wilson, Sam De La Rosa & Chris Sotomayor, Cory Smith & Federico Blee, Whilce Portacio & Alex Sinclair, Adam Kubert & Wilson, Dan Jurgen, Breet Breeding & Sinclair, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Joshua Cassara & Dean White.

Track this down for simple fun and pure escapist shocks and shudders.
© 20th Century Studios. Marvel, its characters and its logos are ™ Marvel Characters, Inc.

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Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin


By Archie Goodwin with Jim Aparo, Sal Amendola, Howard Chaykin, Alex Toth, Walter Simonson, Dan Jurgens, Dick Giordano, Gene Ha, José Muñoz, Gary Gianni, James Robinson, Marshall Rogers, Bob Wiacek, John C. Cebollero, Scott Hampton & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3829-2 (HB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: A Knight in Darkness Forever Missed… 9/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Cartoonist and writer Archie Goodwin (September 8th 1937 – March 1st 1998) was working as an assistant art director at Redbook magazine when his comics career truly began. A passionate EC fan, he had sold a speculative script to Warren Publishing that appeared in Creepy #1. He was the editor by #4, and, despite writing non-stop for some of the greatest artists in comics at that time, was offered a similar leading role on Warren’s latest brainstorm: the astonishing and legendary Blazing Combat. All while officiating and writing for Eerie and Vampirella too.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Goodwin grew up in a succession of small towns, hunting down old EC comics and contributing to comics’ earliest fanzines. From the University of Oklahoma, he transferred to what became the School of Visual Arts in New York City, went freelance in 1960, and occasionally assisted Leonard Starr on newspaper strip Mary Perkins on Stage. In later life his own strip contributions (on Star Wars, Captain Kate, Flash Gordon, Secret Agent X-9 and Star Hawks) would make him popular with an entirely separate sort of comics fans. After leaving Warren in 1967, Archie wrote for Marvel (Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, Tomb of Dracula, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Dazzler, The Hulk, Star Wars and many more), had several stints as group editor and co-created its New Universe. He scripted landmark early graphic novels Blackmark and His Name is Savage with Gil Kane and adapted the movie Alien for Heavy Metal , one of the first best-seller graphic novels. An astute editor and sublime nurturer of new talent, he was Editor in Chief of Marvel, its Epic imprint, and twice at DC. The second run began in 1989, overseeing innovative titles like Starman shine. The assorted Batman titles under his aegis included The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. These and the regular boutique of Bat-books cemented the Dark Knight’s position as the industry’s top star, but it was very much an encore performance.

He was bloody marvellous and never once let me pay for lunch.

Obviously, I’m not at all neutral on this matter, but that doesn’t stop this collection of all the Batman stories Archie wrote being something every fan should see. The compilation gathers material from Detective Comics #437-438, 440-443, Manhunter Special Edition, Detective Comics Annual #3, Showcase ‘95 #11, Batman: Black and White #1 & 4, Legends of the Dark Knight #132-136 and Original Graphic Novel Batman Night Cries, spanning November 1973 through August 1992. Back in the early1970s Archie had been a writer/editor who set the company on fire. His tenure on War titles G.I. Combat, Our Fighting Forces and Star Spangled War Stories generated tales – and sales – still talked about today. However it was his astounding recreation of Batman in Detective Comics that is most remembered and revered.

After taking over the editor’s desk from Julie Schwartz, Archie became writer/editor of Detective Comics with his first style-shattering tale coming in #437 (November 1973). He devised a stunning run of experimental yarns, beginning with a brace of gripping thrillers magnificently depicted by Jim Aparo (The Phantom, The Phantom Stranger, Aquaman). ‘Deathmask!’ is a brilliant murder-mystery featuring glittering social soirees, tough cop chatter, Aztec curses, supernatural overtones and an apparently unstoppable killer. Following that, the same team made ‘A Monster Walks Wayne Manor!’, wherein the abandoned stately pile – Batman having relocated to a bunker under the Wayne Foundation building – briefly becomes home to a warped and dangerous old adversary…

Editor Goodwin started Steve Engelhart’s Bat-folio in #339 (for which see elsewhere) before writing DC #440, as Sal Amendola (Phoenix, Archie Comics, Tarzan) & Dick Giordano (Sarge Steel, Rose and the Thorn, Human Target) limned a creepy tale of weaponised superstition and cruel, cunning criminality as the Dark Detective survives a ‘Ghost Mountain Midnight!’ after tracking hillbilly kidnappers to a murderous mountain-folk enclave, whilst Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, Star Wars, The Stars My Destination) illustrates a manic game of cat-&-mouse in #441’s ‘Judgment Day!’ Here a deranged judge kidnaps Robin and lays down his own brand of law until hard stopped, after which a stylistic masterpiece confirmed Alex Toth (Zorro, Green Lantern, The Witching Hour, Space Ghost, Bravo for Adventure, Torpedo, Johnny Thunder, Eclipso, X-Men) as one of the most unique stylists in American comics. With Goodwin’s collaboration, ‘Death Flies the Haunted Skies!’ (Detective Comics #442, September 1974) is a magnificent barnstorming thriller of aviators seemingly picked off by an assassin and a high point in an era of landmark tales.

While reshaping Batman and war comics, Goodwin was making history with a relative newcomer on a mere backup strip: Manhunter. Now one of the most celebrated superhero series in comics history, it catapulted fresh-faced Walt Simonson (Metal Men, Thor, Star Slammers, X-Factor, Ragnarök, Fantastic Four) to the front rank of creators, revolutionised the way dramatic adventures were told and remains one of the most lauded strips ever produced. Concocted by genial genius Goodwin as a supporting strand for Detective Comics (#437-443 (October/November 1973 to October/November 1974) the seven episodes – 68 serialised pages – garnered six Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards during its one year run. If you’re wondering they were: Best Writer of the Year 1973 – Goodwin; Best Short Story of the Year 1973 for ‘The Himalayan Incident’; Outstanding New Talent of the Year 1973 – Walter Simonson; Best Short Story of the Year 1974 for ‘Cathedral Perilous’; Best Feature Length Story of the Year 1974 for the conclusion ‘Götterdämmerung’ and Best Writer of the Year 1974 – Goodwin.

Paul Kirk was a big game hunter and part-time costumed mystery man before and during WWII. As a dirty jobs specialist for the Allies, he lost all love of life and died in a hunting accident in 1946. Decades later, he seemingly resurfaces, coming to the attention of Interpol agent Christine St. Clair. Thinking him no more than an identity thief, she soon uncovers an incredible plot by a cadre of the World’s greatest scientists who combined over decades into an organisation to assume control of the planet after realising humanity had the means to destroy it.

Since WWII’s end The Council infiltrated every corridor of power, made technological advances (such as stealing the hero’s individuality by cloning him into an army of enhanced, rapid-healing soldiers), gradually achieving their goals with no one the wiser. The returned Paul Kirk, however, had upset their plans and was intent on thwarting their ultimate goals…

Coloured by Klaus Janson and lettered by Ben Oda, Joe Letterese, Alan Kupperberg & Annette Kawecki, it tells of St. Clair and Kirk’s first meeting in ‘The Himalayan Incident’, her realisation that all is not as it seems in ‘The Manhunter File’ and their revelatory alliance beginning with ‘The Resurrection of Paul Kirk.’ Now fully part of Kirk’s crusade, St. Clair discovers just how wide and deep the Council’s influence runs in ‘Rebellion!’ before opening the endgame in the incredible ‘Cathedral Perilous’, and gathering one last ally in ‘To Duel the Master’. With all the pieces in play for a cataclysmic confrontation, events take a strange misstep as Batman stumbles into the plot, inadvertently threatening to hand the Council ultimate victory. ‘Götterdämmerung’ fully lives up to its title, wrapping up the saga of Paul Kirk with consummate flair and high emotion. It was a superb triumph and perplexing conundrum for decades to come…

In an industry notorious for putting profit before aesthetics, quality or sentiment, the pressure to revive such a well-beloved character was enormous, but Goodwin & Simonson were adamant that unless they could come up with an idea that remained true to the spirit and conclusion of the original, Manhunter would not be seen again. Although the creators were as good as their word DC weakened a few times. Rogue Kirk clones featured in Secret Society of Super-Villains and The Power Company, but were mere shabby exploitations of the original. Eventually, however, an idea occurred and the old conspirators concocted something feasible and didn’t debase the original conclusion. Archie provided a plot, and Walter began to prepare the strip. After years of valiant struggle, the master plotter finally succumbed to the cancer that had been killing him. Anybody who had ever met Archie will understand the void his death created. He was irreplaceable. Without a script the project seemed doomed until Simonson’s wife Louise suggested that it be drawn and run without words: a silent tribute and last hurrah for a true hero. Manhunter: the Final Chapter reunites the characters and brings the masterpiece to a solid, sound resolution. As that final wordless word appeared in Manhunter: The Special Edition (1999), it really was all over…

A subtle strand neatly added to Batman’s origin shapes ‘Obligation’ (illustrated by Dan Jurgens (Superman, Sun Devils, Thor, Captain America) & Giordano from Detective Comics Annual #3 1990), as the hero meets a man whose life was also shaped by the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. However, the grim story, crimebusting career and bloody redemption of Mark Cord and his estranged children also draws Bruce Wayne and Batman into all-out war with the Yakuza before any honour can be truly satisfied…

Next, Gene Ha (Top 10, Mae, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix) draws whilst Ted & Debbie McKeever colour chilling short shocker ‘Escape’ (Showcase ’95 #11, November 1995) as an Arkham inmate finds the only way to survive the madness, bolstered by a brace of tales from Batman: Black and White (#1 June 1996 and #4 September 1996). The first offers eerily memorable Jazz murder thriller ‘The Devil’s Trumpet’ – as rendered by astounding stylist José Muñoz (Alack Sinner) – before Gary Gianni (MonsterMen) pulls out all the period stops for his pulp-era paean period piece ‘Heroes’…

Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, new Bat-title Legends of the Dark Knight employed star guest creators to reimagine the hero’s history and past cases for modern audiences. Devised by Goodwin, James Robinson (Starman, Earth 2), Marshall Rogers (Demon With a Glass Hand, G.I. Joe, I Am Coyote, Doctor Strange, Detectives Inc.), Bob Wiacek & John C. Cebollero, issues #132-136 (August-December 2000) explore Wayne family history in story arc ‘Siege’ as an elderly mercenary and his elite entourage return to Gotham in ‘Assembly’. Colonel Brass has a multi-layered plan for profit and personal gratification that harks back to the old days when he was a trusted aide and virtual son to Bruce’s grandfather Jack Wayne. Regrettably, as seen in ‘Assault’, ‘Breach’, ‘Battle’ and ‘Defense’, that involves not only duping business woman Silver St. Cloud and plundering the city, but also taking over Wayne Mansion, and digging down to some old hidden caves (now fully-inhabited and packed with Bat paraphernalia).

Of course, if that entails wiping out any surviving Waynes who might keep Brass from his long-awaited revenge and reward, that’s just a well-deserved bonus…

This titanic tribute closes with what might not be Archie’s best story but certainly ranks as his most important: opening a mature conversation on a terrifyingly pervasive social atrocity we’re all still trying to come to terms with even now. Released in August 1992, Batman: Night Cries addressed a social issue that very much plagues us still, but was then becoming a ubiquitous plot maguffin, poorly handled by contemporary creators in all narrative arts media that it threatened to become just another fashionable story device, and a weakened, trite one at that.

That issue was child abuse and, despite being at first glance a horror fantasy, Night Cries is one of the most effective stories to maturely tackle it that comics has ever produced. This is not a polemical or attention-seeking tale. The subject is key to the narrative, affects characters fundamentally, and is dealt with accordingly. There is no neat and tidy solution. This isn’t a soap-box subject and neither victims nor perpetrators are paraded as single-faceted ciphers. This is a serious attempt to tell a story in which child abuse is an integral factor and not cause nor excuse for violence and pain. It is illustrated by prestigious painter Scott Hampton (Silverheels, Simon Dark, The Upturned Stone, Star Trek, Black Widow, Hellraiser, American Gods, Wicked) who had crafted other high end, mature-themed DC projects such as Batman: Gotham County Line and Sandman Presents: Lucifer. Hampton also contributed heavily to the final script.

Gotham City is a pit of everyday horrors but when a serial killer is identified who apparently targets entire families even Batman and Police Commissioner James Gordon are troubled by unacknowledged, long-suppressed feelings the killings dredge up within themselves. Suspecting a link between the killings and a new child abuse clinic funded by Bruce Wayne, detectives harshly interview a traumatised little girl, a sole survivor who saw the killer in action. She identifies The Batman…

Moody, dark and chilling, this examination of family ties and group responsibilities exposes a complex web of betrayals and shirked duties that weave and cut all through contemporary American culture. When a connection to US servicemen, used, abused and betrayed by their own government is revealed, the metaphor for a system that prefers to ignore its problems rather than deal with them is powerfully completed…

With Covers by Aparo, Michaela Kaluta, Simonson, George Pratt, Jim Lee & Scott Williams, Toth, Rogers & Cebollero, and Hampton, the brilliant Bat-tales in this magnificent compilation confirm the compelling primal force and charisma of the Dark Night and cap a stunning career by an irreplaceable creator. Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin is an unmissable time capsule of comics mastery no fan of the medium or lover of stories can do without.
© DC Comics 1973, 1974, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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Superman: The Dailies volume III: 1941-1942


By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster & the Superman Studio (Kitchen Sink Press/DC)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-462-9 (TPB)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Up, Up And Forever Away …10/10

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

The American comic book industry – if it existed at all – would be utterly unrecognisable without Superman. Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s unprecedented invention was fervidly adopted by a desperate and joy-starved generation and quite literally gave birth to a genre if not an actual art form. Spawning an army of imitators and variations within three years of his 1938 debut, the intoxicating blend of breakneck, breathtaking action and wish-fulfilment which epitomised the early Man of Steel grew to encompass cops-&-robbers crimebusting, socially reforming dramas, sci fi fantasy, whimsical comedy and, once the war in Europe and the East sucked in America, patriotic relevance for a host of gods, heroes and monsters, all dedicated to profit through exuberant, eye-popping excess and vigorous dashing derring-do.

From the outset, in comic book terms Superman was master of the world. Moreover, whilst transforming the shape of the fledgling funnybook biz, the Man of Tomorrow irresistibly expanded into all areas of the entertainment media. Although we all think of the Cleveland boys’ iconic invention as epitome and acme of comics creation, the truth is that very soon after his springtime debut in Action Comics #1 the Man of Steel was a fictional multimedia monolith in the same league as Popeye, Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and Mickey Mouse.

We parochial and possessive comics fans too often regard our purest and most powerful icons in purely graphic narrative terms, but the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, Avengers and their hyperkinetic kind long ago outgrew four-colour origins to become fully mythologized modern media creatures familiar in mass markets, across all platforms and age ranges…

Far more people have seen and heard the Man of Steel than have ever read his comic books. His globally syndicated newspaper strips alone were enjoyed by countless millions, and by the time his 20th anniversary rolled around, at the very start of what we call the Silver Age of Comics, he had been a thrice-weekly radio serial star, headlined a series of astounding animated cartoons, become a novel attraction (written by George Lowther) and helmed two films and his first smash, 8-season live-action television show. Superman was a perennial sure-fire success for toy, game, puzzle and apparel manufacturers all over the planet.

Although pretty much a spent force these days, for the majority of the previous century the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail that all American cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers hungered for. Syndicated across the country – and often the planet – it was seen by millions, if not billions, of readers and generally accepted as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic-books. It also paid better, and rightly so. Some of the most enduring and entertaining characters and concepts of all time were created to lure readers from one particular paper to another and many of them grew to be part of a global culture. Mutt and Jeff, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, Charlie Brown and so many more escaped their humble tawdry newsprint origins to become meta-real: existing in the minds of earthlings from Albuquerque to Zanzibar. Most still do…

The daily Superman newspaper strip launched on 16th January 1939, augmented by a full-colour Sunday page from November 5th of that year. Originally crafted by luminaries like Siegel & Shuster and their studio (Paul Cassidy, Leo Nowak, Dennis Neville, John Sikela, Ed Dobrotka, Paul J. Lauretta & Wayne Boring), the mammoth task required additional talents like strip veteran Jack Burnley and writers including Whitney Ellsworth, Jack Schiff & Alvin Schwartz. The McClure Syndicate feature ran continuously until May 1966, appearing, at its peak, in over 300 daily and 90 Sunday newspapers; a combined readership of more than 20 million. Eventually, Win Mortimer and Curt Swan joined the unflagging Boring & Stan Kaye whilst Bill Finger and Siegel provided stories, telling serial tales largely divorced from comic book continuity throughout years when superheroes were scarcely seen.

This superb, long overdue for re-release collection comes from 1999, re-presents strips #673-866 (episodes 20-28) and is preceded by Steve Vance’s informative, picture and photo-packed introduction ‘Superman Goes Hollywood’, focussing on the hero’s spectacular early triumphs on the big screen in animated and live action formats. If I live long enough, next year I’ll move on to the IDW American classics volumes…

The never-ending battle resumes with Siegel & Shuster attempting something quite spectacular. Although daily strips were never meant to be packaged as units of entertainment but rather present an ongoing, non-stop reading experience, all funnies features incorporated an internal “beginning-middle-end” structure that allowed new readers (preferably in new client regions) to hop aboard the adventure bus. With these tales, however, the creators built in a serial within a serial motif as one deadly enemy enlisted a horde of foes to face the Man of tomorrow, each in his/their own tale…

The saga began on March 10th 1941, as sequence #20, with the initial chapter playing out until April 19th by launching ‘The League to Destroy Superman’ (episodes #673-708). It begins as Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent investigates shady property tycoon Ralph Roland and uncovers a viper’s nest of thugs and bandits resulting in the news hound’s attempted murder. However, after applying his usual heavy-handed solutions, Superman is accused of the manslaughter of one of Roland’s staff – the honest, “nice guy” partner Horace Danvers…

Shocked by the accusation and now doubting himself, the Man of Steel is unaware outraged, affronted, arrogant Roland has convened a forum of crime bosses, enemy spies, mad scientists and professional killers, offering $1,000,000 to anyone who can eradicate the vigilante riff-raff…

First to try is Spanish self-proclaimed “super-scientist” Carlos who – with ferocious flunky Rolf – unleashes a wave of diabolical inventions between April 21st and May 22nd in ‘The Scientists of Sudden Death’ (#709-736), all based around luring the caped champion into lethal traps baited with abducted person of interest Lois Lane…

The League had also agreed to a gentlemanly running order of attempts, but fiery murderess the Blond Tigress keeps jumping the gun due to her hidden personal stake in the contest…

After epically failing, Carlos is readily replaced by overconfident technologist Block whose weapon can derail trains and shoot planes from the sky but also falls short in ‘The Death Ray’ (#737-774 May 23rd – July 5th).

While the Action Ace is drawing fire, Lois and the Tigress individually and jointly address the bigger mystery of who killed Danvers, and why organised crime is seemingly acting on some hidden mastermind’s agenda: an investigation that keeps both fully in harm’s way all year long…

Evil engineer Coker comes next, but although confident his electro-dart gun can do the job, its short range requires an extra effort and employment of deadly doppelganger ‘The Pseudo-Superman’ (#775-798, July 7th – August 2nd) to get his high-flying target into range. Cue a confusing comedy of errors, twisty twin tumult, and sudden deaths before next contender Slag – AKA ‘The Deadly Dwarf’ – (#799-840 August 4th – September 20th) tries his shaky old hand by deploying his incredible gift for hypnotism. Despite provoking a wave of suicides, terrorism and destruction, Slag too fails to collect the bounty, prompting chemist Fant to modify his plans to kill the hero via a hyper-capsule ‘Explosion’ (#841- 854 September 22nd – October 7th). However, even recruiting Blond Tigress to vamp and distract the caped wonder has no appreciable effect, and last genius standing Sleez orchestrates a crimewave and employs lethal ultimate weapon ‘The Electric Rod’ (#855-876 October 8th – November 1st) with as little success as all his competitors. With the field clear the deeply conflicted final contestant at last officially strikes, but ‘The Blond Tigress Regrets’ (#877-888, November 3rd – November 15th) that she might be playing on the wrong team. That’s confirmed when Lois solves the murder mystery and exposes the big shot behind Superman’s frame up…

The compendium concludes with a slice of justified infomercial bragging as – in loose conjunction with the Man of Tomorrow’s screen triumphs – ‘Superman’s Hollywood Debut’ (#889-966, November 17th 1941 – February 14th 1942) follows Lois & Clark to Lala Land where an impending movie biopic is being hampered by a dearth of suitable leading men. Even after that problem is fixed when klutzy Kent takes off his glasses, a rash of weird accidents seems to indicate someone doesn’t want this Super-flick released…

Cue lights! Action! Cartoonists….

Offering timeless wonders and mesmerising excitement for lovers of action and fantasy, the early Superman is beyond compare. If you love the era or just crave simpler stories from less angst-wracked times, these are perfect comics reading, and this a book you simply must see.
Superman: The Dailies volume III co-published by DC Comics and Kitchen Sink Press. Covers, introduction and all related names, characters and elements are ™ & © DC Comics 1998, 1999. All Rights Reserved.