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Showcase Presents Batman volume 6


By Dennis O’Neil, Frank Robbins, Robert Kanigher, Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Neal Adams, Irv Novick, Bob Brown, Dick Giordano & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-5153-6 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

After three seasons the overwhelmingly successful Batman TV show ended in March, 1968. It had clocked up 120 episodes plus a theatrical-release movie since its premiere on January 12, 1966; triggering a global furore of “Batmania” and causing hysteria for all things costumed, zany and mystery-mannish.

Once the series foundered and crashed, humanity’s fascination with “camp” superheroes burst as quickly as it had boomed, and the Caped Crusader was left to a hard core of dedicated fans and followers who hoped they might now have Their hero back.

For comic book editor Julius Schwartz – who had tried to keep the most ludicrous excesses of the show out whilst still cashing in on his global popularity – the solution was simple: ditch the tired shtick, gimmicks and gaudy paraphernalia and get Batman back to basics; solving baffling mysteries and facing life-threatening perils.

That also meant phasing out the boy sidekick…

Although the college freshman Teen Wonder would still pop back for the occasional guest-shot yarn, this 6th astoundingly economical monochrome monument to comics ingenuity and narrative brilliance features him only sporadically. Robin had finally spread his wings and flown the nest: for a solo back-up slot in Detective Comics, alternating with Batgirl.

Chronologically collecting Batman’s cases from cover-dates February 1971 to September 1972, in issues #229-244 of his own title and the front halves of Detective Comics #408-426, the 33 tales gathered here (some Batman issues were giant reprint editions, so only their covers are reproduced within these pages) were written and illustrated by forward-thinking creators determined make the hero relevant and interesting on his own terms once more.

One huge factor aiding the transition was the fact that the publishers now finally acknowledged that a large proportion of their faithful readership were discerning teens or even adults, not just kids looking for a quick, cheap, disposable entertainment fix. Working through other contemporary tropes – most notably a renewed global fascination in all things supernatural and gothic – the creative staff reshaped Batman into a champion capable of working within the new “big things” in comics: realism, organised crime, social issues, suspense and even supernatural horror…

During this period the long road to our modern obsessive, scarily dark Knight gradually produced a harder-edged, grimly serious caped crimebuster whilst carefully expanding the milieu and scope of Batman’s universe. That especially meant re-assessing his fearsome foes, who ceased to be harmless buffoons and inexorably metamorphosed back into the macabre Grand Guignol murder-fiends which typified the villains of the early 1940s.

This mini-renaissance also resulted in a groundbreaking experiment now lauded as one of the first great extended Batman epics…

The moody mayhem begins with ‘Asylum of the Futurians’ (Batman #229, by Robert Kanigher, Irv Novick & Frank Giacoia) pitting the astounded hero against a sect of self-proclaimed mutants who might simply have been the craziest, most self-deluding killers he had ever faced. Almost simultaneously, Detective Comics #408 offered a short sharp shocker by neophyte scripters Len Wein & Marv Wolfman. Limned by Neal Adams & Dick Giordano ‘The House That Haunted Batman’ showcased spectral apparitions, the apparent death of Robin and a devilish mystery callously perpetrated by one of the Gotham Guardian’s most sinister enemies. Frank Robbins, Novick & Giordano then addressed the ongoing social revolution as our hero stopped a juvenile delinquent gang-war. When the now united kids occupied a palatial new building the ‘Take-Over of Paradise’ (Batman #230) provoked a vicious murder. Luckily the Caped Crimebuster was on hand to solve the case before a renewed bloodbath began…

Detective #409 saw Batman face a disfigured lunatic slashing portraits and killing their subjects in ‘Man in the Eternal Mask’ (Robbins, Bob Brown & Giacoia) whilst next issue proved to be another chillingly memorable murder-mystery from the most celebrated creative team of the decade. ‘A Vow from the Grave!’ by Denny O’Neil, Adams & Giordano at their spectacular best featured an exhausted Batman hunting one ruthless killer and inadvertently stumbling into another murder amidst an enclave of retired circus freaks…

Multi-talented Dick Giordano was inker of choice for the Darknight Detective at this time: his slick, lush line and brushwork lending a veneer of continuity to every penciller. Unless I say otherwise, please assume it’s him on every cited story from now on…

The Dark Knight was lured to Vietnam to save an airliner full of hostages in Batman #231 (Robbins with Novick pencils), barely surviving a vicious vengeance scheme triggered by the ‘Blind Rage of the Ten-Eyed Man’. Then the first subtle plot-strands of a breathtakingly ambitious saga unlike anything seen in comics before were woven in Detective Comics #411. Still in the East, undercover and hunting Dr. Darrk (leader of lethally clandestine League of Assassins introduced in #405), Batman’s pursuit led ‘Into the Den of the Death-Dealers’ (O’Neil & Brown) where a climactic struggle resulted in the death monger’s demise and freedom for an exotic hostage he was holding. Her name was Talia…

We learned more of her in Batman #232 where O’Neil & Adams introduced her father – immortal eco-terrorist Ra’s Al Ghul – in a whirlwind adventure which became a signature high-point of the entire Batman canon. ‘Daughter of the Demon’ is a timeless globe-girdling pulp mystery yarn drawing the increasingly dark detective from Gotham’s concrete canyons to the Himalayas in search of Robin and Talia: hostages purportedly captured by forces inimical to both Batman and the mysterious figure who claims to working in secret to save the world…

Ra’s was a contemporary, hopefully more acceptable embodiment of the classic inscrutable ultimate foreign devil (typified in a less forgiving age as the “Yellow Peril” or Dr. Fu Manchu). This kind of alien archetype permeates popular fiction and is still an astonishingly powerful villain-symbol, although the character’s Arabic origins – neutral at that time – seem to uncomfortably embody a different kind of ethnic bogeyman in today’s world.

The concept of a villain who has the best interests of the planet at heart is also not new, but Ra’s Al Ghul – whose avowed intent is to reduce teeming humanity to viable levels and save the world from our poison – hit a chord in the 1970s, a period where ecological issues first came to the attention of the young. It was a rare kid who didn’t find a note of sense in what “the Demon’s Head” planned.

The spectacular tale ended with a shocking pronouncement of what Ra’s intended for Batman…

A return to relative normality came in ‘Legacy of Hate!’ (Detective Comics #412 by Robbins, Brown) as Bruce Wayne heads to Northern England for a convocation of kin gathered to settle the ownership and disposition of ancient Waynemoor Castle. Sadly, even Batman couldn’t separate the spate of attempted murders which followed into purely human perpetrators and the fault of the manor’s vengeful ghost knight…

DC #413 blended the spooky tone of the times with a healthy dose of social inclusion as ‘Freak-Out at Phantom Hollow!’ (Robbins & Brown) sees Batman saving two abused hippie kids being picked on by folk in a rural hamlet, only to become embroiled in a witch’s curse and mad bomber’s plot. Batman #233 was an all-reprint edition, after which #234 featured the stellar return of one of the hero’s most tragic foes. As comics became increasingly more anodyne in the 1950s, psychologically warped actualised schizophrenic Two-Face slipped from Batman’s roster of rogues, but with ‘Half an Evil’ (O’Neil, Adams & Giordano) he resurfaced at the forefront of grimmer, grittier stories. When a string of bizarre and brutal robberies afflicts Gotham, the baffled Batman must use all his ingenuity to discern the reasoning and discover the identity of a ruthless hidden mastermind in time to thwart a diabolical scheme…

An aura of Film Noir redemption colours O’Neil & Novick’s ‘Legend of the Key Hook Lighthouse!’ (Detective #414), as Batman tracks gunrunners to a haunted coastal bastion in Florida. However, only supernatural intervention enables him to save bystanders who, whilst not exactly innocent, certainly don’t deserve the fate psychotic banana republic despot General Ruizo planned for them…

In Batman #235’s ‘Swamp Sinister!’ (O’Neil & Novick) early insights into the true character of Talia and her ruthless sire manifest when the Dark Knight races to recover a stolen bio-weapon, whilst in Detective #415 Robbins & Brown’s ‘Challenge of the Consumer Crusader’ sees the Gotham Gangbuster uncover an extortion ring inside the nation’s most respected product-testing organisation.

Detective Comics #400 had introduced a dark twisted doppelganger to Gotham’s Guardian when driven scientist Kirk Langstrom created a serum to make him superior to Batman… and paid a heavy price. Over two further tales Langstrom and his fiancée Francine endured his monstrous transformations until Batman found a cure. Now that trilogy expanded in DC #416 as Robbins illustrated his own script in ‘Man-Bat Madness!’ Here Kirk seemingly slips back into his mutative madness. Luckily, Batman has the faith to look beyond appearances and discerns a hidden factor in the scientist’s inexplicable recidivism…

In Batman #236, Robbins & Novick blend mysticism with a solid murder-plot, cover-up and blistering action in ‘Wail of the Ghost-Bride!’ after which a journalist tries to become ‘Batman for a Night’ (Detective #417, Robbins, Brown & Giordano) but only succeeds after experiencing a similar crime-created loss…

‘Night of the Reaper!’ – by O’Neil, Adams & Giordano from Batman #237 – is another of the era’s most revered tales: a harrowing Halloween epic finding Robin working with his former mentor to solve a string of barbarous killings, only to uncover a pitifully deranged perpetrator as much sinned-against as sinner…

Following the cover of reprint giant Batman #238, Detective Comics #418 delivers a (temporary) finish to the short-lived career of The Creeper as ‘…And Be a Villain!’ (O’Neil & Novick) pits the Gotham Guardian against a former hero being simultaneously killed and driven crazy by his own powers. At the heart of the problem is a criminal scientist forcing The Creeper to steal in return for a promised cure, but that’s no help as Batman battles a foe faster, stronger, more agile and far scarier than he…

A corpse weighed down with Batman figurines leads our hero into an underworld imbroglio packed with shameful family freaks, a ruthless master smuggler and the pitiful ‘Secret of the Slaying Statues!’ (Detective #419 by O’Neil & Novick) before Christmas classic ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night!’ (O’Neil & Novick in Batman #239) sees the masked manhunter striving to save a desperate, poverty-struck single parent from making the worst decision of his life – with a little seasonal help from a Jolly higher power…

Robbins again solos for Detective Comics #420’s ‘Forecast for Tonight… Murder!’ as a radioactive dead man stalks one of Gotham’s greatest philanthropists, easily outwitting Batman’s every preventative measure. It only gets tougher when the hero discovers he might be safeguarding the wrong injured party…

The long-brewing war between Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul goes to Def Con 3 in Batman #240 when O’Neil, Novick & Giordano set the scene for a groundbreaking “series-within-a-series” soon to follow. After Batman uncovers one of his opponent’s less worthy and far more grisly projects, he is forced to compromise his principles and deliver ‘Vengeance for a Dead Man!’ The end result will be open war between Batman and the Demon’s Head…

Batman has to break a blackmailer who knows all Gotham’s dirty secrets out of prison during a full-scale riot in ‘Blind Justice… Blind Fear!’ (another all-Robbins affair from DC #421) whilst in the following issue O’Neil, Brown & Giordano have the Dark Knight expose a cunning hijacking ring using radical methodology for corporate reasons in ‘Highway to Nowhere!’ Another sociopathic killer then debuts in Batman #241 as the hero hunts freelance spy Colonel Sulphur, whose extortion scheme revolves around his threat to kill a Pentagon officer’s wife.

‘At Dawn Dies Mary McGuffin!’ by O’Neil & Novick sees Batman scouring Gotham in a tense race against the clock in direct counterpoint to Detective #423’s ‘The Most Dangerous Twenty Miles in Gotham City’ (Robbins, Brown) wherein the masked manhunter’s cognitive skills are tested trying to slip a Russian agent past a gang of ultra-patriots. The killers don’t care that he’s being exchanged for a captive American, they just want to kill a commie and send a message…

Batman #242-244 (and an epilogue from #245 not included in this volume) formed a single extended saga taken out of normal DC continuity. It promised the final confrontation between two opposing ideals. O’Neil, Novick & Giordano opened the campaign in Batman #242 with ‘Bruce Wayne – Rest in Peace!’ as – his civilian identity taken off the board – Batman gathers a small team of specialist allies. These comprise criminal alternate-identity Matches Malone, scientific advisor Dr. Harris Blaine and Ra’s’ top assassin Ling all coerced and sworn to destroy the Demon forever.

Meanwhile it was business as usual in Detective #424 where ‘Double-Cross-Fire!’ by Robbins & Brown played out an astoundingly cunning murder plot with Batman challenging Commissioner Gordon (and us readers) to spot a telltale clue giving the game away. O’Neil & Novick then get all Shakespearean in #425 where ‘The Stage is Set… for Murder!’ and Batman carefully seeks to glean which thespian is plotting a big, bloody finish before the curtain comes down forever…

O’Neil, Adams & Giordano returned with the second chapter of their landmark epic in Batman #243 as the team – plus latecomer Molly Post – bombastically invade Ra’s’ Swiss citadel moments after their intended target passes away. Nobody suspects the ageless villain’s resources include ‘The Lazarus Pit’ which can revive the dead…

In Detective #426, a spate of inexplicable suicides amongst the wealthy leads Batman to suave gambler Conway Treach: a man who just can’t lose. Soon, however, the huckster learns his grim opponent has his own system for winning ‘Killer’s Roulette!’ in another suspenseful all-Robbins gem leading chronologically and conclusively to Batman #244 and the fateful finale wherein ‘The Demon Lives Again!’ Sadly, despite all his supernal gifts and forces, Ra’s cannot escape the climactic vengeance of his implacable foe in dream-team O’Neil, Adams & Giordano’s compulsive climax.

With the game-changing classics in this volume, Batman finally and fully returned to the commercial and critical top flight he had enjoyed in the 1940s, reviving and expanding upon his original conception as a remorseless, relentless avenger of injustice. The next few years would see the hero rise to unparalleled heights of quality so stay tuned: the very best is just around the corner …that dark, dark corner…
© 1971, 1972, 2015 DC Comics. All rights reserved.

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Ant-Man/Giant-Man Epic Collection volume 2: Ant-Man No More (1964-1979)


By Stan Lee, Leon Lazarus, Al Hartley, Roy Thomas, Mike Friedrich, Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo, Tony Isabella, David Micheline, Dick Ayers, Joe Orlando, Steve Ditko, Carl Burgos, Bob Powell, Ross Andru, Herb Trimpe, P. Craig Russell, Jim Starlin, Jimmy Janes, George Tuska, Ron Wilson, John Byrne, Rich Buckler, Keith Pollard & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4965-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Marvel Comics built its fervent fan base through strong and contemporarily relevant stories and striking art, but most importantly by creating a shared continuity that closely followed the characters through not just their own titles but also through many guest appearances in other comics. Such an interweaving meant that even today completists and fans seek out extraneous stories to get a fuller picture of their favourite’s adventures.

In such an environment, archival series like this one are a priceless resource approaching the status of a public service for collectors, especially when you can now purchase and peruse them electronically from the comfort of your own couch, or the lesser luxury of your parents’ basement, garage or attic…

If you’re of a particularly picky nature – and what comic book superhero fan isn’t? – you may consider the Astonishing Ant-Man to be the second star of the Marvel Age of Comics. The unlikeliest of titans first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27 (cover-dated January 1962, on sale in the last months of 1961) in one of the splendidly addictive men-vs-monsters anthology titles that dominated in the heady days of Science Fiction Double-Feature B-Movies.

It was intended as nothing more than another here-today, gone-tomorrow filler in one of the company’s madly engaging pre-superhero “monster-mags”. However, the character struck a chord with someone, and as the DC Comics-inspired superhero boom blossomed, and Lee sprung The Hulk, Thor and Spider-Man on the unsuspecting kids of America, Henry Pym was economically retooled as a fully-fledged costumed do-gooder for TtA #35 (September 1962). You can read about his extremely eccentric career elsewhere, but suffice it to say Pym was never settled in his persona: changing name and modus operandi many times before junking his Ant-Man/Giant-Man identities for the reasonably more stable and more imposing role of Yellowjacket…

This episodic, eclectic and entomologically edifying compendium gathers the last initial outings of the original Ant-Man, plus the legacy of science adventurer Dr. Hank Pym as his size-shifting discoveries were employed by other champions. Contained herein are pertinent portions of Tales to Astonish #60-69, Marvel Feature #4-10; Invincible Iron Man #44; Power Man #24-25; Black Goliath #1-5, The Champions #11-13 and Marvel Premiere #47-48, convolutedly spanning cover-dates October 1964 to June 1979.

The first tale in this collection follows the beginning of the end after The Incredible Hulk became Giant-Man’s co-dependent in #59. With the next issue, the jade juggernaut began his second solo series and even featured on the covers whilst Giant-Man’s adventures shrank back to a dozen or so pages. Ten issues later Hank and partner Janet (The Wasp) Van Dyne retired, making way for amphibian antihero Namor, the Sub-Mariner. (Gi-)Ant-Man & the Wasp did not die, but instead joined the vast cast of characters which Marvel kept in relatively constant play through team books, via guest shots and in occasional re-launches and mini-series… just like the Hulk had.

Here, however, Tales to Astonish #60 delivers the first half-sized yarn. Stan Lee, Dick Ayers & Paul Reinman’s ‘The Beasts of Berlin!’ is a throwback to the daft old days, as the diminutive duo smuggle themselves over the infamous (then brand-new) Wall and into the Russian Sector to battle Commie primates (no, really!) behind the Iron Curtain.

The writing was on the wall by issue #61. With The Hulk already the most prominent on covers, hastily-executed stories and a rapid rotation of artists, it was obvious the appeal of the Masters of Many Sizes was waning. ‘Now Walks the Android’ was a fill-in rather rapidly illustrated by Steve Ditko & George (“Bell”) Roussos, featuring archnemesis Egghead and his latest technological terror-weapon, after which ‘Versus the Wonderful Wasp’ (by Golden Age icon Carl Burgos & Ayers) recycled an ancient plot wherein a thief steals Giant-Man’s costume and equipment, leaving the “mere girl” to save the day…

‘The Gangsters and the Giant’ by Lee, Burgos & Chic Stone in TtA #63 channelled the plot of #37 with the gem-stealing Protector here re-imagined as The Wrecker, but at least it came with a Marvel Masterwork pin-up of the Diminutive Duo by Chic Stone, after which ‘When Attuma Strikes’ – by Leon Lazarus, Burgos & Reinman – conjured up a happy crumb of imagination and wit as Hank & Jan split up! The heartbroken lass was then abducted with a plane full of air passengers by the undersea tyrant and was reunited with her man when he came to the rescue. This uncharacteristically mature-for-its-time romp was scripted by incredibly under-appreciated and nigh-anonymous comics veteran Leon Lazarus whose Pre-Marvel Age credits included genre stars like Black Rider, Arizona Kid and Kid Colt, Outlaw…

One last sustained attempt to resuscitate the series came with the addition of more Golden-Age greats beginning with Bob Powell (Cave Girl, Blackhawk, Jet Powers) who signed on as artist for issue #65’s ‘Presenting the New Giant-Man’ (scripted by Lee, inked by Don Heck) wherein the frustrated, uncomfortable hero built a better costume and greater powers, but almost died at in attacks by a spider and his own cat, accidentally enlarged in the testing process.

With a fresh new look, the last five tales were actually some of the best tales in the run, but it was too late. Frankie (Giacoia) Ray inked Powell on ‘The Menace of Madam Macabre’ with a murderous “oriental” seductress attempting to steal Pym’s secrets, with Chic Stone applying the brushes for ‘The Mystery of the Hidden Man and his Rays of Doom!’ – wherein a power-stealing alien removes Pym’s ability to shrink – before the series concluded with a powerfully impressive 2-parter in Tales to Astonish #68 and 69. ‘Peril from the Long-Dead Past!’ and ‘Oh, Wasp, Where is Thy Sting?’ were inked by Vince Colletta and John Giunta respectively. So far along was the decline that Al Hartley had to finish what Stan started: concisely concluding a tense, thrilling tale of the Wasp’s abduction by the Human Top and abrupt retirement of the weary, shell-shocked heroes at saga’s end.

Despite variable quality and treatment, the eclectic, eccentric and always fun exploits of Marvel’s premier “odd couple” these tales remain an intriguing, engaging reminder that the House of Ideas didn’t always get it right, but generally gave their all to entertaining the fans.

By turns superb, stupid, exciting and appalling this tome and these tales epitomise the best and worst of Early Marvel (with the delightful far outweighing the duff) and certainly won’t appeal to everybody, but if you’re a Fights ‘n’ Tights fan with a forgiving nature the good stuff here will charm, amaze and enthral you whilst the rest could just be considered as a garish garnish to provide added flavour…

In-world, those aforementioned guest shots from Limbo led to a lengthy stint as Avengers and a convoluted transformation from Giant-Man to Goliath to Yellowjacket, before retiring again. However, after a key role in the legendary Kree-Skrull war (yet not reprinted here!) he returned to his roots and got a second start…

The ball starts re-rolling here with a brief back-up vignette from Invincible Iron Man #44 with Roy Thomas, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito light-heartedly depicting ‘Armageddon on Avenue ‘A”, as Ant-Man Pym clashes again with the sinister creepy crawly the Scarlet Beetle. The evil arthropod stills seeks to eradicate humanity, but is kept too busy battling Pym to notice his secret citadel catching alight as part of a seedy insurance scam. Bah! Biped scum!

Marvel Feature #4 then opens a new series with ‘The Incredible Shrinking Doom!’ (by Mike Friedrich & Herb Trimpe) as a hero history recap segues into ‘The Beginning’ with Peter Parker interviewing Dr Pym before they team up to rescue a kidnapped boy. The son of Curt Conners (The Lizard) has been snatched to force the surrender of a valuable formula. However, whilst cleaning up M’Sieu Téte’s vicious underlings, Pym is injected with a bacterial enzyme that traps him at the size of an insect… and not even Spider-Man can help him…

Tension builds in #5’s ‘Fear’s the Way He Dies!’ as Egghead returns even as Ant-Man loses all that precious technology bolstering his powers. Deprived of his insect-controlling helmet, Pym is helpless until the maniac’s niece Trixie Starr makes him new duds and gear. It’s not quite enough to defeat the villain, but at least the shattering explosion of his mobile HQ seems to drive the killer away…

Janet Pym (née Van Dyne) resurfaces in Marvel Feature #6’s ‘Hellstorm!’ (inked by Mike Trimpe) as the beleaguered hero – thanks to trusty pet hound Orkie the dog – finally reaches his own home, only to be attacked by another old foe: Whirlwind. As a result the house is totally destroyed and Mr & Mrs Pym are officially declared dead. P. Craig Russell, Dan Adkins & Mark Kersey illustrate ‘Paranoia is the Para-Man!’ in MF #7 as a new android enemy captures Hank and Jan. Escape and the mechanoid’s inevitable defeat mutates the Wasp into a true insectoid predator for #8’s deadline-wracked ‘Prelude to Disaster!’

Russell, Jim Starlin & Jimmy Janes’ framing sequence here originally supported a Lee, Kirby & Don Heck origin flashback but you can just consult the first volume in this series if you’re feeling a little completist…

Here and now, however, Marvel Feature #9 revealed ‘…The Killer is My Wife!’ – limned by Russell & Frank Bolle, finally finding Hank battling his mutated. mindless spouse as Pym’s lab partner Bill Foster and Iron Man investigate their “deaths”. Tragically, not so far from them, the tiny terror is overwhelmed and temporarily cured by her husband just in time for both to fall victim to new nutcase Doctor Nemesis, before the saga and the series hastily wrapped up in Friedrich, Russell & Frank Chiaramonte’s concluding chapter ‘Ant-Man No More!’. With that Ant-Man faded from view, eventually replaced by Yellowjacket again, and one among many in The Avengers. Years passed and a new writer decided it was time to try size-shifting sagas again. It began as so often, with a try-out in an already established title…

While hiding in plain sight as a Hero for Hire in Times Square, escaped convict Luke Cage fell in love with doctor Claire Temple. When she abruptly vanished, Cage and buddy D.W. Griffiths scoured America looking for her. The trek fed directly into a 2-part premier for another African American superhero as the trail led to the Ringmaster’s Circus of Crime in Power Man #24 (January 1975, by Tony Isabella, George Tuska & Dave Hunt) for ‘Among Us Walks… a Black Goliath!’.

One of the earliest returning black characters in Marvel’s comics, the above-mentioned Bill Foster was a highly educated biochemist working for Tony Stark and with Henry Pym. Foster first appeared in The Avengers #32 (September 1966), working to find a cure when – as Goliath – Pym was trapped at a 10-foot height. Foster faded from view when Hank regained size-changing abilities. Having continued his own experiments in size-shifting, Foster was trapped as a freakish colossus, unable to shrink back to human proportions. Cage painfully learned he was also Claire’s former husband and when he too became trapped as a giant, she had rushed back to Foster’s substantial side to help find a cure.

When Luke shows up, passions are stoked, causing another classic heroes-clash moment until the mesmeric Ringmaster hypnotises all combatants, intent on using their strength to feather his own 3-ring nest. ‘Crime and Circuses’ (Isabella, Bill Mantlo, Ron Wilson & Fred Kida) sees the heroes helpless until Claire comes to the rescue, before making her choice and returning to New York with Luke. Foster gravitated to his own short-run series, becoming Marvel’s fourth African American costumed hero under a heavy-handed and rather uninspired sobriquet…

Cover-dated February 1976 and courtesy of Isabella, Tuska & Colletta, Black Goliath #1 reintroduced a far better hero. Foster was now in complete control of his powers and leading an exotic, eccentric Stark International Think Tank in Los Angeles. Sadly, his arrival coincides with high tech burglaries proving how out-of-depth ‘Black Goliath!’ was when the gang’s leader was exposed as living nuclear nightmare Atom-Smasher! He doled out ‘White Fire, Atomic Death!’ in #2 as scripter Chris Claremont joined Tuska & Colletta.

Barely surviving the first meeting, Foster brought in his team of maverick geniuses for the decisive second round, blissfully unaware the thermonuclear thug was working for a hidden mastermind. ‘Dance to the Murder!’ offers partial explanations as mystery man Vulcan leads multiple attacks on the Think Tank in his effort to secure an enigmatic alien artefact. The result is chaos and catastrophe, exacerbated in BG #4 when ‘Enter Stilt-Man… Exit Black Goliath!’ – with art from Rich Buckler & Heck – depicts the hero distracted by a supervillain hungry to upgrade his powers and status, whilst the mystery box is swiped from the rubble by a common looter…

The series came to an abrupt halt with #5 (November 1976), with Keith Pollard illustrating a tale of ‘Survival!’ as Foster and two bystanders are transported to a deadly alien world. Meanwhile on Earth, the Box begins to awaken…

The storyline was completed in LA-based team title The Champions (#11, February 1977 by Bill Mantlo, John Byrne & Bob Layton) as ‘The Shadow from the Stars’ saw Foster returned without explanation and building tech for the team (consisting then of Black Widow, Angel, Iceman, Hercules, Ghost Rider and soviet superhero Dark Star) as a side bar to the main event wherein Hawkeye and Two Gun Kid call for help in repelling an alien incursion by vintage villain/sentient shadow Warlord Kaa…

Back at the plot in #12, ‘Did Someone say… the Stranger?’ sees Black Goliath ambushed by Stilt-Man as that long-contested Box begins to activate. When universal Elder The Stranger comes to reclaim his planet-destroying Null-Life Bomb, he deems it too late once the device warps reality and dumps The Champions in the realm of former Thor foe Kamo Tharnn, leaving Foster on Earth to prevent ‘The Doom That Went on Forever!’

Arter the fireworks ended, the Big Guy again faded from sight until revived for 1980s classic the Project Pegasus Saga, where he reclaimed the name Giant-Man, but this collection concludes with arguably the most successful size-shifting centurion: solo superhero, security consultant single dad, Avenger, entrepreneur, comedy turn and screen superstar Scott Lang: a true legacy hero made good.

Comics creators are six parts meddler and five parts chronic nostalgia buff so eventually somebody convinced somebody else that the concept and properties of Ant-Man could be viable again, and thus we end here with the introduction of reformed thief Lang from his debut in Marvel Premiere #47 & 48 (cover-dated April & June 1979).

Those first somebodies were David Michelinie, John Byrne & Bob Layton who produced ‘To Steal an Ant-Man!’: disclosing how a former electronics engineer had turned to crime – more out of boredom than necessity – and, after being caught and serving his time, joined Stark International as a resolutely reformed character. Tragically, when his little daughter Cassie developed a heart condition that wiped out his savings, Scott reverted to his old methods to save her…

Desperate to find the wherewithal to hire experimental surgeon Dr. Erica Sondheim, he cases likely prospects, but is crushed when Sondheim is abducted by psychotic industrialist Darren Cross. The magnate is already using all the resources – legal and otherwise – of his mega-corporation Cross Technological Enterprises to keep himself alive. Needing cash just to broach the CTE complex, Lang goes back to Plan A, burgling the lab of retired superhero Henry Pym. The intruder discovers mothballed Ant-Man gear and size-changing gases and in a moment of madness, decides not to sell the stolen tech as planned but instead use it to break into Cross’ citadel and rescue Sondheim…

That plan doesn’t go so great either, as Lang discovers the dying billionaire – in his attempts to stay alive – has been harvesting the hearts of homeless people to power an experimental device which has subsequently mutated him into a monstrous brute. After learning with horror ‘The Price of a Heart!’ Lang eventually triumphs, unaware until the very last that Pym had allowed him to take the suit and was backstopping him every inch of the way. With Cassie saved, Yellowjacket then invites Lang to continue as the new Ant-Man. And so it begins. Again.

With rousing covers throughout by Jack Kirby, Gil Kane, Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, Trimpe, Starlin, John Romita & Sal Buscema, Russell & Adkins, Wilson, Rich Buckler, Lieber, Al Milgrom, Layton, Dave Cockrum and Bob McLeod, this triptych treat includes extras such as original art pages by Powell & Giacoia, Larry Lieber and Trimpe; lost art samples by mainstream illustrator Dick Rockwell; the unused ending to Marvel Feature #10 by Russell (compared in situ with what actually got published) and a brace of unused Layton covers to Marvel Premiere #48.

Seen here are three of the earliest heroes from a size shifting dynasty every true ant-ficionado (yes. I said that, and I’m not sorry!) will be delighted to see. These itty-bitty sagas range from lost oddities to true classics to dazzle Marvel Movie buffs as well as the redoubtable ranks of dedicated comic book readers all cheerfully celebrating this truly Astonishing phenomenon.
© 2023 MARVEL.

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Star Hawks volume 1


By Ron Goulart & Gil Kane, & various (Hermes Press)
ISBN: 978-163140-397-2 (HB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

During the later 20th century, comic book publishers worked long and hard to import their colourful wares to the more popular and commercially viable shelves of bookshops, until eventual acceptance came via the hybrid form we know now as graphic novels. Newspaper strips (and periodical humour/satire magazines like Mad) had, of course, been regular fare for these sales points since the 1950s.

By dint of more accessible themes and subjects, simpler page layouts and just plain bigger core readerships, comedy and action newspaper serials easily translated to digest-sized book formats and sold by the bucketload to a broad base of consumers. Because of this, the likes of Peanuts, B.C., Broom Hilda, Flash Gordon, Mandrake and so many others were an entertainment staple for cartoon-loving, joy-deficient kids and adults from the 1960s to the 1990s. In the final accounting comedies and gag books far outweighed dramas. By the TV-saturated 1970s the grand era of newspaper adventure strips was all but over, although some few dynamic holdouts persevered. There were even some new gems still to come.

One such was this astonishingly addictive space opera/police procedural which debuted on October 3rd 1977. The strip was created by novelist, comics scripter and strip historian Ron Goulart slightly in advance of science fiction’s revival and resurgence which culminated in the release of Star Wars (and later continued by the legendary Archie Goodwin who all-but-sewed up the sci-fi strip genre at that time by also simultaneously authoring the Star Wars newspaper serial which premiered in 1979)…

Star Hawks was graced by the dazzlingly dynamic art of Gil Kane and blessed with an innovative format for such fare: a daily double-tier layout allowing far bigger, bolder graphics and panel compositions than a traditional single bank of three or four frames.

The core premise was also magically simple: in our future, humanity has spread throughout the galaxy and inhabits many worlds, moons and satellites… and wherever man goes there’s crime and a desperate need for policemen and peacekeepers…

As revealed in his picture- & photo-packed Introduction ‘In at the Creation’, Goulart began with working title “Space Cops”, which was eventually editorially overruled and superseded with the more dashingly euphonious and commercially vibrant Star Hawks. He goes on to describe resistance the strip suffered from its own syndicate, delays that meant it only launched after Star Wars set the world on fire and how he was ultimately edged out of the creative process altogether…

A brace of mass-market digest paperbacks were released whilst the strip was still running, and at the end of the 1980s, 4 comic book-sized album collections came from Blackthorne Publishing, but these are all now out-of-print and hard to acquire, so let’s be thankful for this first sturdy hardback archival edition…

Printed in landscape format with each instalment fitting neatly onto a page (and almost original publication size), this stirring tome of clean, crisp monochrome art is tight and taut: steaming straight in with the premiere episode. Here we meet villainous Raker and his sultry, sinister boss: child-of-privilege Ilka. They are scouring the slums and ruins of alien world Esmeralda for a desperate girl plagued by dark, dangerous visions…

Enter Rex Jaxan and burly Latino lothario Chavez: two-fisted law-enforcing police officers on the lookout for trouble, and who promptly save the lost lass from slavers only to become embroiled in a dastardly plot to overthrow the local Emperor by scurrilous arms merchants. Also debuting in that initial tale is the officers’ boss Alice K. Benyon – far more than just a sexy romantic foil for He-Hunk Jaxan, and an early example of a competent woman actually In Charge (even if she does it in slinky form-hugging outfits)…

The debuting standbys also include awesome space station “Hoosegow” and Sniffer, the snarkiest, sulkiest, snappiest robo-dog in the galaxy. This mechanical mutt gets all the best lines…

Barely pausing for breath, the star-born Starsky and Hutch (that’s Goulart’s take on them, not mine) are in pursuit of an appalling new weapons system developed to topple the military dictatorship of Empire 13: the “Dustman” process (beginning on November 15th 1977). Before long, searches for the illegal and appalling WMD develop into a full-on involvement in what should have stayed a local matter; and inevitably civil war…

The next sequence (March 17th to June 19th 1978) opens with the jubilant boys investigating stupendous resort satellite Hotel Maximus, with Alice K. along to bolster their undercover image. On Maximus, every floor holds a different daring delight, from dancing to dinosaur wrangling to Alpine adventure – but the return of malevolent Raker heralds a whole new kind of chaos as he is revealed as an agent of pan-galactic criminal cartel The Brotherhood.

Moreover, the Maximus is the site of their greatest coup – a plot to mass mind-control the universe’s richest and most powerful citizens. So pernicious are these villains that the Brotherhood can even infiltrate and assault Hoosegow itself…

Foiling the raiders, Jaxan & Chavez quickly go on the offensive, hunting the organisation as a new epic begins on June 20th (which frustratingly leaves this initial collection paused on a tense cliffhanger). The investigation takes them to pesthole planet Selva: a degraded world of warring tribes and monstrous mutations, where ambitiously dogged new recruit Kass seeks to distinguish himself, even as on Hoosegow the Brotherhood is deadly and persistent with new leader Master Jigsaw executing his plan to destroy the Star Hawks from within…

Wrapping up the starry-eyed wonderment is the first part of Daniel Herman’s biographical assessment ‘Gil Kane: Bringing a Comic Book Sensibility to Comic Strips’…

The Star Hawks strip ran until 1981, garnering a huge and devoted audience, critical acclaim and a National Cartoonists Society Award for Kane (1977 Story Comic Strip Award). It is quite simply one of the most visually exciting, rip-roaring and all-out fabulous sci-fi sagas in comics history and should be part of every action fan’s permanent collection. These tales are a “must-have” item for every thrill-seeking child of the stars and fan of the classic space age…
© 1977, 1978, 2017 United Features Syndicate, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Papyrus volume 1: The Rameses’ Revenge (The Revenge of the Ramses)


By Lucien De Gieter, translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1- 905460-35-9 (Album TPB/Digital edition)

British and European Comics have always been far keener on historical strips than our American cousins, with the Franco-Belgian contingent in particular making an art form out of combining a fascination with past lives with drama, action and humour in a genre uniquely suited to beguiling readers of all ages and tastes. Papyrus is an astoundingly addictive magnum opus and life’s work of Belgian cartoonist Lucien de Gieter. Launched in 1974 in legendary weekly Le Journal de Spirou, it eventually ran to 36 adventures in 33 albums and spawned a wealth of merchandise, a TV cartoon series and video games.

De Gieter was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on September 4th 1932 and, after attending Saint-Luc Art Institute in Brussels, worked as an industrial designer and interior decorator before moving into comics in 1961. Initially he worked on promo inserts (fold-in, half-sized-booklets known as ‘mini-récits’) for Spirou, such as little cowboy Pony, and produced scripts for established TJdS creators like Kiko (Roger Camille), Jem (Jean Mortier), Eddy Ryssack and Francis (Bertrand). He then joined Pierre “Peyo” Culliford’s studio as inker on Les Schtroumpfs – which you’ll know as The Smurfs – before soloing as the latest creator on long-running newspaper comic cat strip Poussy.

After originating Tôôôt et Puit (starring a young pearl diver and a mermaid) in 1966 and subsequently seeing Pony graduate to the full-sized pages of TJdS two years later, De Gieter relinquished the Smurfs gig, but kept himself busy producing work for Le Journal de Tintin and Le Journal de Mickey. From 1972-1974 he assisted Flemish cartooning legend Arthur Berckmans (AKA Berck) on comedy science-fiction series Mischa for Germany’s Rolf Kauka Studios anthology magazine Primo, all whilst preparing the strip which would occupy his full attention – as well as that of millions of avid fans – for the next four decades and remainder of his life.

The annals of Papyrus encompass a huge range of themes and milieu, blending Boy’s Own action/adventure with historical fiction, fearsome fantasy and interventionist mythology. The enthralling Egyptian epics gradually evolved from standard “Bigfoot” cartoon style and content into a more realistic, dramatic and authentic iteration with each tale also deftly incorporating the latest historical theories and discoveries into the beguiling annals.

Papyrus is a fearlessly forthright young fisherman favoured by the gods and chosen as their earthly agent who advances against all odds to become a dauntless champion and friend to Pharaohs. As a youngster the plucky Fellah (peasant or agricultural labourer, fact fans) was singled out and given a magic sword courtesy of the daughter of crocodile-headed Sobek before winning similar boons and blessings from many of the Twin Land’s potent pantheon.

The youthful operative’s first accomplishment was liberating supreme deity Horus from imprisonment in the Black Pyramid of Ombos, thereby restoring peace to the Double Kingdom, but it was as nothing compared to his current duties: safeguarding Pharaoh’s wilful, high-handed, headstrong and insanely danger-seeking daughter Theti-Cheri – a dynamic devils-may-care princess with an astounding knack for finding trouble…

The Rameses’ Revenge was actually the seventh collected album, originally released on the Continent in 1984 as La Vengeance des Ramsès and finds Papyrus on a royal barge en route to the newly finished temple at Abu-Simbel. He is merely one small part of a vast flotilla destined to commemorate the magnificent Tomb of Rameses II.

Although his sedate Nile voyage is ruined by appalling dreams, great friend and companion Imhotep tells him not to worry. Nevertheless, the boy hero dutifully consults a priest and is deeply worried when the sage declares the dreams are a warning…

Tension only grows when impatient Theti-Cheri informs him she has permission to go on ahead of Pharaoh’s retinue in a small, poorly-armed skiff. Unable to dissuade her, Papyrus is furious when the princess imperiously orders him to remain behind. As they set off, the brat and Imhotep are blissfully unaware that a member of her small guard has been replaced by a sinister impostor…

The vessel is well underway before they discover Papyrus has stowed away, but before furious Theti-Cheri can have him thrown overboard, their boat is simultaneously hit by an implausibly sudden storm and attacked by a brace of monsters.

Although Papyrus valiantly drives them away with his magic sword, the princess sees nothing, having been knocked out. Still seething on awakening she refuses to believe the hero or Imhotep and orders the expedition onward to Abu-Simbel. Next morning Papyrus and the guards are missing…

Pressing on anyway, the princess and her remaining attendants reach the incredible edifice only to be seized by a band of brigands who have captured the site. They want the enormous treasure hidden within the sprawling complex and already hold Papyrus prisoner. If Theti-Cheri or the hostage Temple Priests won’t hand over the booty, the boy will die horribly…

The repentant princess cannot convince the clerics to betray their holy vows, and in desperation declares that she will instead surrender herself. Appalled and moved by her noble intention, High Priest Hapu determines that only extreme measures can avenge the bandits’ sacrilegious insult and calls upon mighty Ra to inflict a vengeance of the gods upon them…

The astounding, spectacular, epically terrifying result ideally concludes this initial escapade and will thrill and delight lovers of fantastic fantasy and bombastic adventure no matter how many times they re-read it.

Papyrus is another superb addition to that all-ages pantheon of European icons who combine action and mirth with wit and charm, and even though UK publisher Cinebook haven’t released a new adventure since Sekhmet’s Captive in 2022, anybody who has worn out their cherished Tintin, Spirou and Fantasio, Lucky Luke and Asterix collections would be well rewarded by checking out the magnificent seven sagas still available (in paperback or eBook editions) before harassing the publishers to start translating the rest of the fantastic canon…
© Dupuis, 1984 by De Gieter. All rights reserved. English translation © 2007 Cinebook Ltd.

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The Incredible Story of Cooking – From Prehistory to Today: 500,000 Years of Adventure


By Stéphane Douay & Benoist Simmat, with Christian Lerolle, Robin Millet & Joran Tréguier, translated by Montana Kane (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-340-0 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-341-7

Usually this bit is about sex or swearing, but here I’m issuing another culinary advisory. If you are vegan, squeamish or can be upset by fish, cetaceans and other really cool animals comedically killed, butchered and consumed, do not buy this book. It’s really not for you.

The purview of graphic novels and illustrated narrative has expanded to mirror every aspect of prose print and even TV broadcasting these days. One of the most engaging for me and many others is historical investigations, breezy documentaries and fact-based investigations and speculations… and even well-researched cookbooks. Here, direct from the continent via those fine folks at NBM, is a graphic treat that combines all of that…

The history and development of cuisine has fascinated most people and this bold venture agues wittily and quite convincingly that this is the most likely way it all unfolded…

Author, economics journalist and comic book writer Benoist Simmat is mostly known to us for Wine, A Graphic History which sold over 100,000 copies in France and has been translated into many languages, but if you drink poshly you might also have seen his satirical bande dessinée collaboration with Philippe Bercovici – Robert Parker: Les Sept Pêchés capiteux. The ambitious tome under review here is likely to be just as popular, especially as it is expansively limned by comics veteran Stéphane Douay.

Born in Le Havre, the picture maker tried assorted jobs – like radio operator and actor/juggler – before settling into drawing for money. He has illustrated strips for over two decades with Matiè re fantô me, Commandant Achab, Les Anné es rouge & noir, Ririri, Don Quichotte dans la Manche, and strips in several collective albums to his great credit. In 2006, he began the Matière Fantôme series. I don’t know if he or Simmat ever worked as cooks or sous chefs…

The cookery class – extravagantly footnoted throughout – commences with their ‘Foreword – The Oldest Story in the World’ before carrying us back to Africa and a quick menu of the species that preceded us in Chapter 1 ‘The Slow Emergence Of Prehistoric Cuisine’. Beginning by examining the capture of fire by Homo erectus, the ice ages of 700,000-500,000 years ago and the first recorded/found recipes found in sites across Asia, the gastro-journey explores with wit, charm and a soupcon of silliness how chucking the latest killed catch onto flames, hot stones and embers not only introduced a whole new range of flavours but also kickstarted the discipline of bacterial control and food hygiene…

With the addition of plants as comestibles and/or flavour enhancers and preservatives, and scavenging increasingly supplanted by farming, the science of food had begun, and as neanderthals and homo sapiens spread across the globe, experts and specialists began carving out their own niches in tribes all advancing as cooking and eating together bound families and individuals into nascent societies…

The second chapter highlights ‘Dinner Tables Of The First Great Civilizations’, sampling moments and menus of Sumer and the origin of beer and trade; Mesopotamia, breadmaking and the invention of status-enhancing banquets; Assyria, the start of gender-specific cooking roles and Egypt’s embracing of salad as well as food for haves and have nots…

Also visited is proto-imperial China as its founders confirmed the link between food and health and formalised the cuisine that has conquered the modern world: a proud claim also true of its contemporary realms in the Indus valley who propounded a connection between certain edibles and a healthy soul, before the chapter closes with a round-up of the state of play in early African and Mesolithic American nations…

The combination of anecdotal snippets, hard archaeological fact and speculation all backed up with unearthed recipes continues in the same breezy manner, encompassing ‘Culinary Passions Of The Ancient Greeks And Romans’, ‘The Trade Routes of the Far East’, ‘Castle Life’ and ‘The New Worlds’ before offering deeper insights into modern eating habits and its politically-charged, commercially ruthless dominance as philosophically demarcated and defined in ‘Bourgeois Revolutions 1: Gastronomy’ and ‘Bourgeois Revolutions 2: Capitalist Cuisine’…

From there it’s a short hop into today’s fashionably foody forum in ‘The Era Of Light Eating’ briefing on “taste activism”, macrobiotics and other fad foodisms, fair trade, fast food vs junk food, biodiversity, compassion in farming, food miles, technological advances (like microwave cookers and air fryers), the power of “Big Food”, foods that harm us, the diet industry and so much more that makes eating a political choice and how staying alive is now a balancing act between health, production, pleasure and authenticity…

Following a summation asking where it will all end and how will we get there, this fabulous buffet of fact and fun wraps up with ‘Recipes’: detailing 22 significant dishes the reader can make, culled from the historical archive and the entirety of human experience across the planet.

Graded Easy, Elaborate or Difficult and spanning recent to ancient the list opens with ‘Anti-waste Velouté – Italy’ and includes ‘Vegan Hamburger – England’; ‘Chicago Hot Dog – USA’; ‘Chow Mein Noodles – China’; ‘Cincinnati Chili – USA’; ‘Fish Ceviche – Peru’; ‘Homemade Ketchup Sauce – USA’; ‘Herring and Potatoes in Oil (Hareng Pommes À L’Huile) – France’; ‘Authentic Paella Valenciana “Mixta” – Spain’; ‘Fish & Chips – England’; ‘Woodcock Hash in Beauvilliers-style Croustade – France’; ‘The Aztec Taco – Mexico’; ‘Chicken Marengo – France’; ‘Cassava-Plantain Fufu with Mafé Sauce – Ivory Coast’; ‘Pork Vindaloo – India’; ‘Oyakodon Donburi – Japan’; ‘Maestro Martino’s Macaronis – Italy’; ‘Lamprey Pâté – France’; ‘Beef Plov – Uzbekistan’; ‘Maza Bread – Greece’; ‘Roman Garum – Italy’ before ending at the beginning with ‘Prehistoric Confit – France’…

The art of food and pleasures of eating have never been better appreciated or shared than in books like these, blending fun and exoticism with the tantalising yet satisfying anticipation of gustatory consumption. Academically robust and steadfast, the book’s ‘Bibliography’ and ‘Acknowledgements’ sections are huge but fascinating, making this a simply delightful dish: an inviting comics divertissement that absolutely whets the appetite for more… and maybe a snack to accompany the ingestion…

The Incredible Story of Cooking – From Prehistory to Today © Les Arènes, Paris, 2021. © 2024 NBM for the English translation.

The Incredible Story of Cooking – From Prehistory to Today: 500,000 Years of Adventure will be published on 10th September. 2024 and is available for pre-order now. NBM books are also available in digital formats.
For more information and other great reads see NBM Graphic Novels.

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Asterix and the Picts (Asterix album 35)


By Jean-Yves Ferri & Didier Conrad, coloured by Thierry Mébarki, Murielle Leroi & Raphaël Delerue: translated by Anthea Bell (Orion Books)
ISBN: 978-1-44401-167-8 (Album HB) 978-1-44401-169-2 (Album TPB) eISBN: 978-1-4440-168-5

Asterix the Gaul is probably France’s greatest literary export and part of the fabric of French life. The feisty, wily little warrior who fought the iniquities and viewed the myriad wonders of Julius Caesar’s Roman Empire with brains, bravery and – whenever necessary – a magical potion imbuing the imbiber with incredible strength, speed and vitality, is the go-to reference for all us non-Gallic gallants when we think of France.

The diminutive, doughty darling was created at the close of the 1950s by two of our artform’s greatest masters, with his first official appearance being October 29th in Pilote #1, even though he had actually debuted in a pre-release teaser – or “pilot” – some weeks earlier. Bon Anniversaire mon petit brave!

His adventures first touched billions of people all around the world for five and a half decades as the sole preserve of originators Rene Goscinny and/or Albert Uderzo. After close on 15 years as a weekly comic serial subsequently collected into book-length compilations, in 1974 the 21st saga – Asterix and Caesar’s Gift – was the first to be released as a complete original album prior to serialisation.

Thereafter each new album was an eagerly anticipated, impatiently awaited treat for legions of devotees, but none more so than this one which was created by Uderzo’s handpicked replacements – scripter Jean-Yves Ferri (Fables Autonomes, La Retour à la terre, De Gaulle à la plage) and illustrator Didier Conrad (Les Innomables, Le Piège Malais, Tatum, Spirou) – who had taken up a somewhat poisoned chalice on his retirement in 2009. And began the further adventures of truly immortal French heroes. Happily the legacy was in safe hands, especially after this first book was meticulously overseen by Uderzo every step of the way…

Whether as an action-packed comedic romp with sneaky, bullying baddies getting their just deserts or as a punfully sly and witty satire for older, wiser heads, the new work is just as engrossing as the previously established canon, and English-speakers are still happily graced with the brilliantly light touch of translator Anthea Bell who, with former collaborator Derek Hockridge, played no small part in making the indomitable little Gaul so palatable to English-speakers around the globe.

As you surely already know, half of these intoxicating epics are set in various exotic locales throughout the Ancient World, whilst the rest take place in and around Uderzo’s adored Brittany where, circa 50 B.C., a little hamlet of cantankerous, proudly defiant warriors and their families resisted every effort of the mighty Roman Empire to complete the conquest of Gaul.

Although the country is divided by the notional conquerors into provinces Celtica, Aquitania and Amorica, the very tip of the last named regions stubbornly refuses to be pacified. The Romans, utterly unable to overrun this last bastion of Gallic insouciance, are reduced to a pointless policy of absolute containment – and yet these Gauls come and go as they please. Thus a tiny seaside hamlet is permanently cut off (in the broadest, not-true-at-all sense) by heavily fortified garrisons Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium: filled with veteran fighters who would rather be anywhere else on earth than there…

Their “confined detainees” couldn’t care less: casually frustrating and daily defying the world’s greatest military machine by simply going about their everyday affairs, untouchable thanks to a miraculous magic potion brewed by resident druid Getafix and the shrewd wits of diminutive dynamo Asterix and his simplistic, supercharged best friend Obelix…

Astérix chéz les Pictes was released in October 2013, simultaneously hurtling off British shelves as Asterix and the Picts. It opens in February with snow piled deep in the village and all around its weathered stockade. Eager to avoid the usual spats, snipes and contretemps of their fellows, doughty little Asterix and his affable pal Obelix go for a bracing walk on the beach and discover lots of flotsam and jetsam: Roman helmets, old amphorae, a huge cake of ice with a strange tattooed giant inside…

Carrying the find back to their fascinated friends, the duo are informed by Getafix that the kilted chap appears to be a Pict – another tribe ferociously resistant to Roman rule – from distant Caledonia on the other side of the sea. The find polarises the village: the men are wary and distrustful but women seem to find the hibernating Hibernian oddly fascinating. So great is the furore over the discovery nobody bats an eyelid when Limitednumbus the Roman census-taker sidles into the village eager to list everything going on and everyone doing it…

Soon Getafix has safely defrosted the giant but the ordeal has left the iceman speechless. That only makes him more interesting to the wowed womenfolk, and when a smidgeon more Druid magic gives him a modicum of voice (very little of it comprehensible), before long Chief Vitalstatistix orders his mismatched go-to guys to take ship and bring the bonnie boy back to his own home, wherever it is.

… With the gorgeous tattooed giant gone, the bedazzled women will go back to normal again. At least that’s the Chief’s fervent hope…

After tearful farewells (from approximately half of the village) the voyagers head out, greatly encouraged as the Pict suddenly regains his power of speech. In fact he then can’t stop gabbing, even when the Gauls meet their old chums The Pirates and indulge in the traditional one-sided trading of blows.

The reinvigorated refrigerated hunk is called Macaroon and is soon is sharing his tale of woe and unrequited love even as the little boat steadily sails towards his homelands. Macaroon lived on one side of Loch Androll and loved Camomilla, daughter of chieftain Mac II. Sadly, ambitious, unscrupulous rival chieftain Maccabaeus from across the water wanted to marry her too and cunningly disposed of his only rival by lashing him to a tree trunk and casting him into freezing coastal waters…

Meanwhile in Caledonia, a Roman expeditionary force led by Centurion Pretentius arrives and makes its way to a rendezvous with a potential ally: a chief of clan Maccabees willing to invite the devious, all-conquering empire into the previously undefeated land of the Picts…

Once Macaroon and his Gallic guardians reach home turf they are feted by his amazed, overjoyed kin, whilst across the loch the traitor seeks to placate his own men who have witnessed the giant’s return and believe him a ghost. Villainous Maccabaeus is only days away from becoming King of all the Picts. He even holds captive Camomilla – whom he must wed to cement his claim – and with Romans to enforce his rule looks forward to a very comfortable future. He will not tolerate anything ruining his plans at this late stage…

Things come to crisis when Macaroon has a sudden relapse and the Druid’s remedy to restore him is lost at the bottom of a loch thanks to the playfulness of the tribe’s colossal and revered water totem “the Great Nessie”. When Asterix & Obelix helpfully offer to retrieve it, they find a tunnel under the loch leading into the Maccabees fortress, and which is simply stuffed with lots of lovely Romans to pummel…

With the jig up and Camomilla rescued, the scene is set for a spectacular and hilarious final confrontation setting everything to rights in the tried-and-true, bombastic grand manner…

Fast, funny, stuffed with action and hilarious, tongue-in-cheek hi-jinks, this is a joyous rocket-paced chariot ride for lovers of laughs and devotees of comics everywhere…
© 2013 Les Éditions Albert René. English translation: © 2013 Les Éditions Albert René ©. All rights reserved.

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Fantastic Four Omnibus volume 2


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby with Chic Stone, Frank Giacoia, Vince Colletta, Sam Rosen, Art Simek & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: ?978-0-7851-8567-3 (HB/Digital edition)

It’s not an international public holiday yet but August 28th is the birthday of Comics’ Greatest Imagineer…

Jacob Kurtzberg AKA Jack Curtiss, Curt Davis, Lance Kirby, Ted Grey, Charles Nicholas, Fred Sande, Teddy The King and others was born on this day in 1917 in New York City, U.S.A. Before dying on February 6th 1994 he did lots of stuff and inspired millions of people. This is some of the most inspirational stuff he did…

In my opinion Fantastic Four #1 is the third most important Silver Age comic book ever, behind Action Comics #1 – introducing Superman – and All Star Comics  #3, which invented superhero teams with 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), Jack Kirby settled into his job at a small outfit that used to be publishing powerhouse Timely/Marvel/Atlas Comics. He churned out high quality mystery, monster, romance and western material in a market he feared to be ultimately doomed, as always doing the best job possible. That generic fare is now considered some of the best of its kind ever seen. However, his fertile imagination couldn’t be suppressed for long and when the Justice League of America caught readers’ attention it gave him and writer/editor Stan Lee an opportunity to change our industry forever.

According to popular myth, a golfing afternoon led to ever-opportunistic publisher Martin Goodman ordering his nephew Stan to do a title about a group of super-characters like the DC crowd then dominating the marketplace.

The resultant team 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: 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, Fantastic Four #1 (bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961) saw maverick scientist Dr. Reed Richards summon his 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.

This second omnibus compendium collects Fantastic Four #31-60, double-sized Annuals #2-4 and and a tale from parody vehicle Not Brand Echh #1 (spanning September 1964 to August1967): issues of progressive landmarks cannily building on that early energy to consolidate the Fantastic Four as the leading title and most innovative series of the era.

Following typically effusive “found footage”, Foreword: A Universal Favorite from Stan – with two more to follow as these many pages turn – precedes the contents of Fantastic Four Annual #2 (September 1964) with Chic Stone inking ‘The Fantastic Origin of Doctor Doom!’ A short (12 page) scene-setter, it momentously details how brilliant Roma (called “gypsy” back then) boy Victor Von Doom remakes himself into the most deadly villain in creation. Ruthlessly surmounting obstacles such as ethnic oppression, crushing poverty and the shocking stigma of a sorceress mother, he rises to national dominance and global status…

Following a batch of villains in ‘A Gallery of the Fantastic Four’s Most Famous Foes!’ (Super-Skrull, Rama-Tut, Molecule Man, Hate-Monger, The Infant Terrible and Diablo) plus pin-ups of Johnny, Sue, Ben, Alicia Masters and Reed, Past informs Present as the ultimate villain believes he has achieved ‘The Final Victory of Dr. Doom!’ through guile, subterfuge and mind-control whereas he has in fact suffered his most ignominious defeat…

Monthly wonderment resumes with #31’s ‘The Mad Menace of the Macabre Mole Man!’ which precariously balances a loopy plan by the subterranean satrap to steal entire streets of New York City with a portentous subplot featuring a mysterious man from Sue’s past, as well as renewing the quartet’s somewhat fractious relationship with The Mighty Avengers…

After the first of every Fantastic 4 Fan Page letter column included for your delectation, the mystery man’s secret is revealed in ‘Death of a Hero!’: a powerful tale of tragedy and regret spanning two galaxies starring the uniquely villainous Invincible Man – who is not at all what he seems…

Supplemented by a glorious Kirby & Stone ‘Prince Namor Pin-up’ and adorned with an experimental photo montage cover from Kirby, FF #33’s ‘Side-by-Side with Sub-Mariner!’ follows, bringing the aquatic antihero one step closer to his own series as the quarrelsome quartet lend surreptitious aid to the embattled undersea monarch against deadly debuting barbarian Attuma after which ‘A House Divided!’ sees the team almost destroyed by power-hungry Mr. Gregory Hungerford Gideon, a Richest Man in the World who still can’t get all he wants…

Following a wry ‘Yancy Street Pin-Up’, #35’s ‘Calamity on the Campus!’ sees the fighting family visit Reed’s old Alma Mater in a tale designed to pander to a burgeoning college fan-base Marvel was then cultivating. Incorporating a cameo role for then-prospective college student Peter Parker, the rousing yarn brings back demon alchemist Diablo and introduces monstrous misunderstood homunculus Dragon Man.

Fantastic Four #36 premiered the team’s theoretical nemeses ‘The Frightful Four’: a group of villains comprising The Wizard, Sandman, Trapster (he was still Paste Pot-Pete here, but not for much longer) plus enigmatic new character Madame Medusa, whose origins were to have a huge impact on the heroes in months to come…

Most notable in this auspicious, action-packed, guest-star-stuffed (all the Avengers and X-Men) but inconclusive duel is the official announcement after so many months of Reed & Sue’s engagement – in itself a rare event in the realm of comic books at that time.

The team spectacularly travel to the homeworld of the shapeshifting Skrulls in #37, seeking justice or vengeance for Sue & Johnny’s recently-murdered father in ‘Behold! A Distant Star!’ They return only to be ‘Defeated by the Frightful Four!’ in #38: a sinister sneak attack and catastrophic clash of opposing forces with a startling cliffhanger that marked Chic Stone’s departure in suitably epic manner.

Frank Giacoia – under the pseudonym Frank Ray – stepped in to ink #39’s ‘A Blind Man Shall Lead Them!’ wherein a suddenly-powerless FF are targeted by an enraged and humiliated Doctor Doom, with only sightless vigilante Daredevil offering a chance to keep them alive.

The saga concludes in ‘The Battle of the Baxter Building’ as Vince Colletta assumes inking duties for a bombastic conclusion dramatically displaying the undeniable power, overwhelming pathos and indomitable heroism of the brutish Thing.

Pausing for another Lee Introduction – ‘When Inspiration Struck’ – a new era of fantastic suspense begins with the first chapter of a tensely traumatic trilogy in which the other (EVIL) FF brainwash the despondent and increasingly isolated Thing: turning him against his former team-mates. It starts with ‘The Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grimm!’, continues in rip-roaring fashion as ‘To Save You, Why Must I Kill You?’ pits the monster’s baffled former comrades against their best friend and the world’s most insidious villains, before concluding in bombastic glory with #44’s ‘Lo! There Shall be an Ending!’

After that Colletta signed off by inking the most crowded Marvel story yet conceived. Cover-dated November 1965, Fantastic Four Annual #3 famously features every hero, most of the villains and lots of ancillary characters from the company pantheon (such as teen-romance stars Patsy Walker & Hedy Wolf and even Stan & Jack themselves). ‘Bedlam at the Baxter Building!’ spectacularly celebrates the Richards-Storm nuptials, despite a massed attack by an army of baddies mesmerised by diabolical Doctor Doom. In its classical simplicity it signalled the end of one era and the start of another…

FF #44 was also a landmark in so many ways. Firstly, it saw the arrival of Joe Sinnott as regular inker: a skilled brush-man with a deft line and a superb grasp of anatomy and facial expression, and an artist prepared to match Kirby’s greatest efforts with his own. Some inkers had problems with just how much detail the King would pencil in; Sinnott relished it and the effort showed. What was wonderful now became incomparable…

‘The Gentleman’s Name is Gorgon!’ premieres a mysterious powerhouse with ponderous metal hooves instead of feet: a hunter implacably stalking Medusa. She then entangles the Human Torch – and thus the whole team – in her frantic bid to escape, and that’s before tmonstrous android Dragon Man shows up to complicate matters. All this is mere prelude, however: with the next issue we meet a hidden race of super-beings secretly sharing Earth for millennia. ‘Among Us Hide… The Inhumans’ reveals Medusa to be part of the Royal Family of Attilan, paranormal aristocrats on the run ever since a coup deposed the true king.

Black Bolt, Triton, Karnak and the rest would quickly become mainstays of the ever-expanding Marvel Universe, but their bewitching young cousin Crystal with her faithful giant teleporting dog Lockjaw (“who’s a Guh-hood chunky Boh-oy?”) were the real stars here. For young Johnny it is love at first sight, and Crystal’s eventual fate would finally season and mature his character, giving him a hint of angst-ridden tragedy to resonate greatly with the generation of young readers who were growing up with the comic…

‘Those Who Would Destroy Us!’ and ‘Beware the Hidden Land!’ (#46 – 47) see the team join the Inhumans as Black Bolt struggles to take back the throne from his bonkers brother Maximus the Mad, only to stumble into the usurper’s plan to wipe “inferior” humanity from the Earth.

Ideas just seem to explode from Kirby at this time. Despite being only halfway through one storyline, FF #48 trumpeted ‘The Coming of Galactus!’ so the Inhumans saga was swiftly but satisfyingly wrapped up (by page 6!) with the entire clandestine race sealed behind an impenetrable dome called the Negative Zone (later retitled Negative Barrier to avoid confusion with the sub-space gateway Reed worked on for years). Meanwhile, a cosmic entity approaches Earth, preceded by a gleaming herald on a board of pure cosmic energy…

I suspect this experimental – and vaguely uncomfortable – approach to narrative mechanics was calculated and deliberate, mirroring the way TV soap operas increasingly delivered their interwoven overlapped storylines, and used here as a means to keep readers glued to the series.

They needn’t have bothered. The stories and concepts were more than enough…

‘If this be Doomsday!’ sees planet-eating Galactus setting up shop over the Baxter Building despite the FF’s best efforts, whilst his coldly gleaming herald has his humanity accidentally rekindled by simply conversing with The Thing’s blind girlfriend Alicia. Issue #50’s ‘The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer!’ concludes the epic in grand manner as the reawakened ethical core of the Surfer and heroism of the FF buy enough time for Richards to literally save the world with a boldly-borrowed Deus ex Machina gadget…

Once again, the tale ends in the middle of the issue, with the remaining half concentrating on the team getting back to “normal”. To that extent, Johnny finally enrols at Metro College, desperate to forget lost love Crystal and his unnerving jaunts to the ends of the universe. On his first day, the lad meets imposing and enigmatic Native American Wyatt Wingfoot, who is destined to become his greatest friend…

That would be a great place to stop but its only a final pause and third Lee Introduction ‘A Combo That’s Hard to Beat’ before moving on to a tale many fans consider the greatest single FF story ever. Illustrated by Kirby and inked by Sinnott, ‘This Man… This Monster!’ finds Ben’s grotesque body usurped and stolen by a vengeful, petty-minded scientist harbouring a grudge against Reed. The anonymous boffin subsequently discovers the true measure of his unsuspecting intellectual rival and willingly pays a fateful price for his envy…

By now the FF had become the most consistently groundbreaking and indisputable core title and series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters at a time when Kirby was in his conceptual prime and continually unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot as Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas that Marvel – or any publisher for that matter – has ever seen.

Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their creative powers, and full of the confidence that only success brings, with The King particularly eager to see how far the genre and the medium and even society could be pushed…

Without preamble the wonderment recommenced with an actual cultural revolution as a new unforgettable character debuted. ‘The Black Panther!’ (#52, cover-dated July 1966) was an enigmatic African monarch whose secretive kingdom was the only source of a vibration-absorbing alien metal. Mineral riches had enabled him to turn his country into a technological wonderland and – bold and confident – he lured the quartet into his savage super-scientific kingdom as part of an extended plan to gain vengeance on the murderer of his father. He was the first black superhero in American comics.

After battling the team to a standstill, King T’Challa reveals his tragic origin in ‘The Way it Began..!’, therby also introducing sonic supervillain Klaw. In the aftermath Johnny and tag-along college roommate Wyatt embark on a quest to rescue Crystal (still imprisoned with her people behind an impenetrable energy barrier in the Himalayas). The journey is paused when they discover the lost tomb of Prester John in #54’s‘Whosoever Finds the Evil Eye…!’ and almost perish in devastating, misguided combat…

For aiding the FF against Galactus, the Silver Surfer was imprisoned on Earth by the vengeful space-god. The brooding, perpetually moralising former herald had quickly become a fan-favourite and his regular appearances were always a guarantee of something special. ‘When Strikes the Silver Surfer!’ sees him in uncomprehending, brutal battle with Ben Grimm, whose insecurities over his sightless girlfriend explode into searing jealousy when the gleaming skyglider comes calling, before business as unusual resumes when ‘Klaw, the Murderous Master of Sound!’ ambushes the team in their own home in #56.

Throughout all the stories since their imprisonment, a running sub-plot with The Inhumans had been slowly building, with Johnny & Wyatt stuck on the other side of the Great Barrier: wandering the Himalayan wilds whilst seeking a way to liberate the Hidden City.

Their quest led directly into spectacular battle yarn ‘The Torch that Was!’: lead feature in the fourth FF Annual (November 1966) wherein The Mad Thinker recovers and resurrects the original Human Torch (in actuality world’s first android and a major star of Timely/Marvel’s Golden Age). The reawakened revanant is soon reprogrammed to destroy the flaming teenager who succeeded him and the blistering battle briefly reunites the entire team, leading into an epic clash with their greatest foe…

Fantastic Four #57-60 is Lee & Kirby at their sublime best, with unbearable tension, breathtaking drama and shattering action on all fronts as the most dangerous man on Earth steals and empowers himself with the Silver Surfer’s cosmic forces, even as The Inhumans at last win their freedom and we learn the tragic secret of mute Black Bolt in all its awesome fury.

It begins with a jailbreak by Sandman in #57’s ‘Enter… Dr. Doom!’, escalates in ‘The Dismal Dregs of Defeat!’ as Doom tests his limitless stolen power and crushes all earthly resistance; builds to a crescendo in ‘Doomsday’ with the heroes’ utter defeat and humiliation before culminating in brains and valour saving the day – and all humanity – in truly magnificent manner in ‘The Peril and the Power!’

After all the heartstopping action and suspense the affair ends for the present on a comedic note, with a pertinent parody from spoof title Not Brand Echh, opening with #1 (August 1967) and Lee, Kirby & Giacoia’s reassessment of Doom’s theft of the Power Cosmic in ‘The Silver Burper!’…

Art lovers and history buffs can also enjoy a boundless hidden bounty at the end of this volume as we close with fascinating freebies in the form of essays ‘Fantastic Four’s Golden Year’ by Roy Thomas, ‘From This Day Forward: How Marriage Changes Everything (Even for the FF)’ by Jon B. Cooke, ‘Wonderment Aplenty’ by Mark Evanier, ‘What’s in a Name’ by John Morrow and ‘The Start of a Revolution’ by Reginald Hudlin, all supported by visual treats including numerous house ads, initial designs for Coal Tiger (who evolved into the Black Panther), Kirby & Sinnott’s unused first cover for FF #52, an unmodified version of the cover for #38, bolstered by the covers for FF reprint titles Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics/Marvel’s Greatest Comics #1-43 and Marvel Triple Action #1-4 by Kirby, Gil Kane, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Jim Starlin and Kirby augmented by original art pages and Ladrönn’s cover for the 2007 FF Omnibus #2 edition.

Epic, revolutionary and unutterably unmissable, these are the stories which made Marvel the unassailable leaders in comics fantasy entertainment and they remain some of the most important superhero stories ever crafted. The verve, conceptual scope and sheer enthusiasm shines through on every page and the wonder is there for you to share. If you’ve never thrilled to these spectacular sagas then this book of marvels is the perfect key to another – far brighter – world and time.
© 2022 MARVEL.

And since So Many Others are already talking of Yule fuel…
Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Total Entertainment Perfection… 10/10

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Speed Racer Classics


By Tatsuo Yoshida, translated by Nat Gertler (Now Comics)
ISBN: 0-70989-331-34 (TPB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

During the 1960s when Japanese anime was first starting to appear in the West, one of the most surprising small screen hits in America was a classy little cartoon series entitled Speed Racer. It first aired on Japan’s Fuji Television from April 1967 to March 1968;  52 high velocity episodes that steered into US homes mere months after. Back then nobody knew the show was based on and adapted from a wonderful action/science fiction/sports comic strip created in 1966 by manga pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida for Shueisha’s Shōnen Book periodical.

The comic series was itself a recycled version of Yoshida’s earlier racing hit Pilot Ace.

The original title Mach GoGoGo was a torturously multi-layered pun, playing on the fact that boy-racer Gō Mifune – more correctly Mifune Gō – drove the supercar “Mach 5”.

“Go” is the Japanese word for five and a suffix applied to ship names whilst the phrase Gogogo is the usual graphic sound effect for “rumble”. All in all, the title means “Mach-go, Gō Mifune, Go!” which was adapted for US screens as and its assumed simpleton viewers Go, Speed Racer, Go!, initially running from 1967 and for decades in syndicated reruns…

In 1985 Chicago-based Now Comics took advantage of the explosion in comics creativity to release a bevy of full-colour licensed titles based on popular nostalgic icons such as Astro Boy, Green Hornet, Fright Night and the TV cartoon version of Ghostbusters, but started the ball rolling with new adventures of Speed Racer. Gosh, I wonder who owns the rights to all those great comics and if we’ll ever see them revived in modern collections?

The series was a palpable hit and in 1990 the company released this stunning selection of Yoshida’s original stories in a smart monochrome edition graced with a glorious wraparound cover by Mitch O’Connell. It was probably one of the first manga books ever seen in US comic stores. Although the art was reformatted for standard comic book pages the stories are relatively untouched with the large cast (family, girlfriend, pet monkey and all) called by their American TV nomenclature/identities, but if you need to know the original Japanese designations and have the puns, in-jokes and references explained, there are many Speed Racer websites to consult and there have been many more translated collections in familiar tankōbon style editions…

Pops Racer is an independent entrepreneur and car-building genius estranged from his eldest son Rex, a professional sports-car driver. Second son Speed also has a driving ambition to be a pro driver (we can do puns too, just so’s you know) and the episodes here follow the family concern in its rise to success, peppered with high drama, political intrigue, criminal overtones and high octane excitement (whoops!: there I go again)…

The action begins with ‘The Return of the Malanga’ as – whilst competing in the incredible Mach 5 – Speed recognises an equally unique vehicle believed long destroyed when running this same gruelling road-race. The plucky lad becomes hopelessly embroiled in a sinister plot of remote-controlled murder and vengeance after learning that the driver of the resurrected supercar crashed and died under mysterious circumstances years ago. Now, the survivors of that tragic incident are perishing in a series of fantastic “accidents”; are these events the vengeance of a restless spirit or is an even more sinister force at work?

In ‘Deadly Desert Race’ the Mach 5 is competing in a trans-Saharan rally when Speed is drawn into a personal driving duel with spoiled Arab prince Kimbe of Wilm. When a bomb goes off, second son Racer is accused of attempting to assassinate his rival and must clear his name and catch the real killer by traversing the greatest natural hazard on the planet whilst navigating through an ongoing civil war: a spectacular competition climaxing in a blistering military engagement…

After qualifying for the prestigious Eastern Alps Competition, our youthful road ace meets enigmatic Racer X: a masked driver with countless victories, a shady past and a hidden connection to the Racer clan before ‘This is the Racer’s Soul!’ reveals the true story of Pops’ conflict with Rex Racer when criminal elements threaten to destroy everything the inventor stands for.

After the riveting race action and blockbusting outcome, this volume concludes with a compelling mystery yarn as – in ‘The Secret of the Classic Car’ – Speed foils the theft of a vintage vehicle by organised crime before being sucked into a nefarious scheme to obtain at any cost a lost secret of automotive manufacture hidden by Henry Ford. When the ruthless thugs kidnap Speed, Pops catapults into action just as the gang turns on itself with the saga culminating in a devastating and insanely destructive duel between rival super-vehicles…

These are delightfully magical episodes of grand, old-fashioned adventure, realised by a master craftsman, well worthy of any action fan’s eager attention, so even if this particular volume is hard to find, other editions and successive collections from WildStorm, DC and Digital Manga Publishing are still readily available.

Go, Fan-boy reader! Go! Go! Go!…
Speed Racer ™ & © 1988 Colour Systems Technology. All rights reserved. Original manga © Tatsuo Yoshida, reprinted by permission of Books Nippan, Inc.

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Invincible Iron Man Marvel Masterworks volume 12


By Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway, George Tuska, Keith Pollard, Carmine Infantino, Don Perlin, Jack Abel, Mike Esposito, Fred Kida, Pablo Marcos, Bob Wiacek, Alfredo Alcala & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1716-6 (HB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Arch-technocrat and supreme survivor Tony Stark has changed profile many times since his debut in Tales of Suspense #39 (March 1963) when, whilst a VIP visitor in Vietnam observing the efficacy of the munitions he had designed, the inventor was critically wounded and captured by sinister, savage Communists.

Put to work building weapons with the dubious promise of medical assistance on completion, Stark instead created the first of many technologically augmented suits to keep himself alive and deliver him from his oppressors. From there it was a simple – transistor-powered – jump to full time superheroics as a modern Knight in Shining Armour…

Conceived in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis at a time when Western economies were booming and “Commie-bashing” was an American obsession, the emergence of a new young Thomas Edison, employing Yankee ingenuity, wealth and invention to safeguard the Land of the Free and better the World, seemed an obvious development. Combining then-sacrosanct faith that technology and business in unison could solve any problem, with the universal imagery of noble knights battling evil, Stark – the Invincible Iron Man – seemed an infallibly successful proposition.

Of course, whilst he was the acceptable face of 1960s Capitalism – a glamorous millionaire industrialist/scientist and a benevolent all-conquering hero when clad in the super-scientific armour of his alter-ego – the turbulent tone of the 1970s soon relegated his suave, “can-do” image to the dustbin of history. With ecological disaster and social catastrophe from the myriad abuses of big business the new zeitgeists of the young, the Golden Avenger and Stark International were soon confronting some tricky questions from an increasingly politically savvy readership.

With glamour, money and fancy gadgetry not quite so cool anymore the questing voices of a new generation of writers began posing uncomfortable questions in the pages of a series that was once the bastion of militarised America. This twelfth chronological compendium completes that transitional period, reprinting Iron Man #95 – 112 (February 1977 to July 1978) as Bill Mantlo’s passionate writing triggers a minor renaissance in the Steel Sentinel’s chrome-plated chronicles that will result in some of the best stories of the Eighties era and return Iron Ma to the top-rank of Marvel stars. If you’re a fan thanks to the movie interpretation, that iteration starts right here, right now…

Aided and abetted by Kurt Busiek’s informative, insightful Introduction offering historical overview and behind-the-scenes revelations, the climb to reclaimed pole position resumes with veteran Iron Man artist George Tuska joining plotter Gerry Conway, scripter Mantlo and inker Don Perlin in unleashing giant android ‘Ultimo!’ (IM #95, cover-dated February 1977) against Washington DC.

Clad in newly-updated armour and in the Capitol to answer congressional questions about his company, Stark is targeted by a vengeful hidden nemesis who activates the mountainous monster for a classic B-Movie sci fi rampage in the streets, with the Golden Avenger supplementing hard pressed Army and National Guard units… before falling in ignominious defeat due to sabotage…

Mantlo, Tuska & Jack Abel prove you can’t keep a good Iron Man down as the embattled hero rallies and retaliates in ‘Only a Friend Can Save Him’ when former close ally and dutiful S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Jasper Sitwell joins the counterattack. Meanwhile a long-simmering plotline advanced as NYPD detective Michael O’Brien – who holds Stark responsible and accountable for the death of his brother Kevin (see Iron Man Masterworks volume 11) – finally allows his obsession with a cover-up to pull him across the legal line and into collusion with shady PI Harry Key, whose latest client also has nasty plans for the playboy inventor…

Thanks to ingenuity and sheer guts, Stillwell and Iron Man seemingly destroy Ultimo deep below DC, but their triumph is short lived as a return to Stark’s Long Island factory provokes a ‘Showdown with the Guardsman!’ (Conway, Mantlo, Tuska & Perlin). When Mike takes PA Krissy Longfellow hostage, steals the armour suit that drove his brother insane and ambushes the Golden Avenger wearing it, the clash is swift and brutal, but thankfully this time, blockbusting battle ends before another good man dies…

Whilst subsequently treating O’Brian, another distraction comes when an old frenemy attacks the facility and American interventionist economic practises. ‘Sunfire Strikes Again!’ sees the Japanese ultra-nationalist mutant warrior again seek to derail progress, unaware that he is a pawn of the lurking presence gunning for Stark, but the harried hero’s problems start with the fact his greatest weapon is offline and he’s fighting in borrowed Guardsman armour. When the conflict frees imprisoned Michael O’Brian, the cop seeks to make amends by joining the battle in an obsolete Iron Man outfit, but – even with Mike Esposito inking – the new allies rapidly find themselves ‘At the Mercy of the Mandarin!’

During the melee, Key tries his luck in the Stark vaults once too often and encounters an unexpected problem thanks to another insidious infiltrator planted by a different plotting mastermind. However, having freed himself, Tony is too now busy rushing to a far-distant, potentially world-ending final battle in anniversary issue #100. Invading China, Iron Man faces horrors, homunculi Death Squads, nuclear armageddon and his most obsessive enemy whose ‘Ten Rings to Rule the World!’ ultimately prove insufficient to the task…

With the tyrant’s countless plots to discredit Stark all exposed, our hero starts a long journey home even as in Long Island, Harry Key, Jasper Sitwell and one of the traitors in Stark’s midst begin a cautious espionage dance…

Iron Man’s trip stalls when he is shot down over Yugoslavia (just google it) and wakens in a creepy old castle filled with freaks and outcasts safeguarded by a familiar – to dedicated Marvelites at least – huge and daunting figure. Recovering in ‘Then Came the Monster!’ our weary voyager views Castle Frankenstein and panics: clashing with the gentle “Modern Prometheus” before the real menace emerges. Inked by Esposito & Pablo Marcos, ‘Dreadknight and the Daughter of Creation!’ channels old Marvel horror tales as a brutal and brutalised escaped experiment of Doctor Doom’s laboratories seeks to compel the great granddaughter of Victor Frankenstein to share with him the secrets of creating life…

This ruthless high-tech paladin’s sadistic efforts are eventually thwarted by Iron Man and the original good Monster, after which the Steel Shod Sentinel at last arrives home in #103’s ‘Run for the Money!’ by Mantlo, Tuska & Esposito. Sadly, it’s just in time for the next domestic crisis as Sitwell exposes the traitor only to be captured by revolting corporate villain Midas, who – patience exhausted – launches a hostile takeover using tanks, mercenaries, lawyers and the Stock Market…

He is temporarily checked by itinerant junior hero/innocent bystander Jack of Hearts who – as per standard Marvel protocol – is attacked by the weary, late arriving Iron Man who has misconstrued events and attacked the well-meaning stranger. Shock follows shock as Midas’ legal chicanery forces Iron Man’s surrender, ceding control of Stark International to his enemy, even as the villain’s agent Madame Masque quits to ally herself with the defeated hero and his ousted, outmanoeuvred alter ego Tony Stark. In the aftermath, repercussions of the takeover ripple outwards. With Stark no longer paying her bill, deeply disturbed super-telepath (and former Stark inamorata) Marianne Rodgers is kicked out of the sanatorium that has been keeping her psionic deadly tendencies in check…

The fightback begins in ‘Triad!’ (Mantlo, Tuska & Esposito) after Stark initially refuses the help of Masque. Thus she instead allies with former lover/patsy Sitwell whilst elsewhere, interested parties Michael O’Brian and Jack of Hearts also seek to stop Midas converting Stark’s purloined resources into a world-conquering armed force. Also heading slowly towards a showdown, Marianne graduates towards Long Island, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake…

With ‘Every Hand Against Him!’ and despite the stakes being so high, Tony has quit forever, preferring to hide in his father’s old house with Madame Masque. Less sanguine over the crisis and threat to National Security, many of Iron Man’s allies join a volunteer force recruited by psychic superhero The Wraith and eventually consisting of Police Captain Jean de Wolf, former Iron Man Eddie March, The Guardsman and Jack of Hearts, covertly backed up by Sitwell and (the first) Nick Fury…

Still short of power, they co-opt through blackmail, Masque’s lethal skills and Tony’s last remaining armour suit to take down Midas. ‘Then There Came a War!’ (#106) sees the desperate squad invade SI and face a legion of automated Iron Men. At the height of battle Marianne Rodgers – in a fugue state – finally reaches her destination. As Keith Pollard & Fred Kida step in to illustrate the catastrophic conclusion, ‘And, in the End…’ sees her power tip the scales, uncovering even more treachery in Tony’s inner circle and inspiring the despondent hero to take back his heritage, his company and his honour…

With most of his allies apparently dead, Iron Man calls in Avenging ally Yellowjacket (AKA original Ant-Man Henry Pym) to help whip up a miracle cure in #108 (Mantlo, Carmine Infantino & Bob Wiacek). This incurs some ‘Growing Pains!’ and a palate-cleansing action-filled monster-bash as the clear-up somehow reactivates Kang the Conqueror’s devastating Growing Man android to add to the wreckage and rubble…

Once the fighting is finished, the rebuilding of Stark International begins, with Mantlo, Infantino & Kida dictating the pace prior to another crisis after Jack of Hearts traces the Growing Man’s programming orders as emanating from Luna. Thus Iron Man and his superhero apprentice board a Quinjet and experiences a very painful ‘Moonrise!’ when their mission intersects a secret sortie by Soviet Super-soldiers Darkstar, Vanguard and Crimson Dynamo. The Communist cosmonauts are only investigating a bizarre alien artefact, but entrenched political and personal animosities spark a savage fight. Both sides are preoccupied when the silver egg activates, transporting those closest to it – the Americans – to somewhere far, far away…

Mantlo, Pollard & Kida stretch their fantasy muscles for an astral epic as the heroes materialise aboard a vast ship bearing Colonizers of Rigel to their next conquest. Sadly, these ‘Sojourners Through Space!’ have targeted Wundagore II – used by animal-enhancing manmade deity the High Evolutionary to store former experiments – and are soon caught up in a battle against formidable space Knights of Wundagore and two devastating late-arriving, quickly escaping human captives within their colossal Commandship…

When an alliance of humans and hyper-evolved Earth beasts proves too costly, the Rigellian venture is called off in ‘The Man, the Metal, and the Mayhem!’ but in turn leads to renegade Colonizer subcommander Arcturus spitefully targeting Earth with a robot stolen from Galactus (the original Punisher from Fantastic Four #48-50). Upon its despatch, closing inclusion ‘Moon Wars!’ (Iron Man #112,  July 1978 by Mantlo, Pollard & Alfredo Alcala) sees a swift, unauthorised Colonizer strike lead to a desperate dash back to Luna and shattering descent to Detroit, Earth, for Iron Man, resulting in blistering battle with the cosmic weapon of chastisement and a whole new definition of the word “invincible” for the triumphant Golden Avenger…

To Be Continued…

With covers throughout by Jack Kirby, Al Milgrom, Abel, Ron Wilson, Dan Adkins, Gil Kane, Dave Cockrum, Sal Buscema, Jim Starlin, Val Mayerik, George Pérez, Terry Austin, Frank Giacoia, Joe Sinnott, Joe Rubinstein, John Byrne, Wiacek & Pollard, the extras include cartoon fan letter ‘Printed Circuits’ (by Fred Hembeck from #112) and original art consisting of covers, plus splash and story pages by Milgrom, Abel, Starlin, Mayerik, Cockrum, Tuska & Esposito.

These epic yarns are the bread & butter of superhero comic storytelling, combining action, spectacle, intrigue, drama and even soap opera elements to keep readers coming back issue after issue. These as much as every cosmic landmark and style breakthrough are what keep comics companies alive and deserve your full attention. Suit up and read on…
© 2019 MARVEL.

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Batman: The Sunday Classics 1943-1946


By Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Joe Samachson, Alvin Schwartz, Bob Kane, Jack Burnley, Fred Ray & various (Barnes & Noble/DC Comics/Kitchen Sink Press)
ISBN: 978-1-1402-4718-2 (Album HB) 978-0-87816-148-1 (PB)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

If the newspaper comic strip was the 20th century’s Holy Grail, the Holiest of Holies was a full-colour Sunday page. These stunningly produced showcases for talent were delivered to families all across America and the wider world and inescapably formed part of the fabric of the mass entertainment society: demanding and generating the best of the best. Such was absolutely the case of the 1940s Batman and Robin strip: coming late to the party but developing into arguably the highest quality comics-to-strips offering of all.

Although a highpoint in strip cartooning, both iterations of the Batman feature were cursed by ill-timing. After years of dickering the daily debuted at a time when newspaper publishing was hampered by wartime rationing, and a changing marketplace meaning these strips never achieved the circulation they deserved. However, Sundays were given a new lease of life in the 1960s when DC began reprinting vintage stories in 80-Page Giants and Annuals.

The superior quality adventures were ideal action-mystery short stories, adding an extra cachet of exoticism for young readers already captivated by enjoying tales of their heroes that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “H”.

The stories themselves are broken down into complete single page instalments building into short tales averaging between 4 to 6 pages per adventure. Mandatory esoteric foes include such regulars as The Penguin (twice), Joker, Catwoman and Two-Face and all-original themed villains like The Gopher, The Sparrow and Falstaff, but the bulk of the yarns offer more prosaic criminals, if indeed there is any antagonist at all. However, a policy of shorter individual story sequences means that there were 26 complete adventures for modern fans to enjoy now. especially if DC ever reprint and produce a digital edition of these classic romps…

A huge benefit of work produced for an audience deemed “more mature” is the freedom to explore human interest stories such as exonerating wrongly convicted men, fighting forest fires or discovering the identity of an amnesia victim. There are even jolly seasonal yarns…

The writers included comic book veterans Don Cameron, Bill Finger, Joe Samachson and Alvin Schwartz with art by Bob Kane, Jack Burnley and Fred Ray and inking by Win Mortimer and Charles Paris. The letterer was tireless, invisible calligraphic master Ira Schnapp and the strips were all coloured by Raymond Perry.

As with the companion Dailies collection this compendium is packed with info features and a wealth of extra features such as biographical notes, a history of the strip, promotional features and artefacts, behind-the-scenes artwork and sketches, and much more: offering history, context, appraisals, appreciations and a wealth of merchandising material courtesy of Joe Desris. These are divided into ‘Getting the Job Done’, ‘A History of the Batman and Robin Sundays’, ‘Biographies’, ‘Bubble Gum Similarities’, ‘Previous Reprintings’, ‘The McClure Syndicate’s Promotional Book’, ‘Jack Burnley’s Pencils’ plus contemporaneous article ‘Batman – Backward Looking and Forward Leaning’ by scripter Alvin Schwartz.

With far more emphasis on fun and thrills and less of murder and sinister extended-by-design skulduggery, the masked manhunters launch the Sunday sessions with Cameron – or possibly Samachson – Kane & Paris depicting ‘The Penguin’s Crime-Thunderstorms’ (weeks 1-6, November 7th – December 12th 1943). This brief introductory sally sees the Dynamic Duo thwarting the bird-based bandit’s cunning scheme to use bad weather and his patented uniquely weaponised bumbershoots to pluck penniless the most infamous miser in Gotham.

Weeks 7-10 (December 19th 1943 – January 9th 1944 by Finger, Kane & Paris) set a nautical themes as ‘The Secret of Cap’n Plankton’s Ghost’ finds our playboy heroes fishing in their civilian identities when the resort of Pirate’s Cove is raided by an ancient vessel packing very modern artillery. The robbed rich folk all believe it the last descendent of an infamous old buccaneer, but Batman and Robin find that’s not the case at all when they lower the boom on the true culprits…

Finger, Burnley & Paris produced the next dozen delights beginning with western teaser ‘Jesse James Rides Again!’ (weeks 11-15, January 16th – February 13th 1944) as a train robbery reenactment is hijacked by opportunistic modern bandits with a degree of panache after which ‘The Undersea Bank Bandits’ (16-20 February 20th – March 19th 1944) employ mining and diving techniques to plunder from below Gotham’s streets whilst ‘Liquid Gold!’ (21-26, March 26th – April 30th) finds our heroes out west helping prospector’s daughter Ruth Parker bring in her first oil well despite the machinations of a cunning property speculator…

Comedy loomed large in ‘Cap’n Alfred’ (weeks 27-31, May 7th – June 4th) as the faithful manservant dabbles in nautical lore and celebrates his family’s maritime heritage by taking a part-time job skippering the Gotham Ferry. His tenure begins in the middle of a major hijacking spree but – happily for all concerned – his usual employers had come aboard to see him shine… or not…

A truly crafty, twisty tale of cross and double-cross follows as the Dynamic Duo rush to prove the innocence of a man who claims to be ‘Death Row’s Innocent Resident’ (32-39, June 11th – July 30th) after which Jack Burnley joined Finger and Paris for a season of superb thrillers starting with ‘The Mardi Gras Mystery’ (40-46, August 6th – September 17th) as Bruce and Dick head to the Big Easy and stumble into a deadly con game turned lethal treasure hunt led by a genially murderous giant dubbed Falstaff…

Back home and enjoying the bucolic delights of an upstate County Fair, the off-duty Duo discover that ‘An Attic Full of Art’ (weeks 47-53, September 17th – November 5th) left to a couple of innocent hicks is plenty of reason for city slicker art dealer Maxwell to connive, cheat and even commit murder to corner the market. Time for the other suits, lads…

The year turned with a beguiling fantasy fable as ‘There Was a Crooked Man…’ (54-61, November 12th– December 31st 1944) saw our heroes drawn into a seemingly sinister chase across the seediest sectors of Gotham in pursuit of a villain out of a nursery rhyme. There was however, a solid sensible explanation for the rollercoaster rush & tumble…

Things turn deadly serious during a visit to timber country as ‘Holy Smoke!’ (62-68, January 7th – February 18th 1945) sees a recovering pyromaniac scapegoated for a series of deliberate fires, until Batman deduces the real reason and exposes the true culprit after which humour and pathos return in ‘An English Sassiety Skoit’, (69-72, February 25th – March 18th). When a pretty con-artist impersonates Alfred’s never-seen Australian niece and looks to cash in on the Wayne fortune, Batman and Robin must intervene with breaking the old soul’s heart, but severely underestimate their manservant’s detective skills, after which the heroes head out west again and find ‘Rustling on a Reservation’ (73-78, March 25th – April 29th) whilst helping “Pueblo Indians” stop a systematic plunder spree designed to starve them out and steal their ancestral lands…

Another spate of subsurface capers signal the debut of an engineering super-criminal as ‘The Gopher: King of the Underworld!’ (79-85, May 6th – June 17th) has bandits use tunnels and building works in their thefts, leading the Caped Crusaders a merry dance down below before good old detective digging unearths the mystery mastermind.

Bob Kane returned in 15th tale ‘The Tale of the Tinker Diamond’ (weeks 86-90, June 24th – July 22nd) as a gem cutter’s son is kidnapped to force his collusion in a massive jewel heist – until Batman intervenes – after which Schwartz, Burnley & Paris open the first of eight consecutive adventures with ‘A Pretty Amnesiac’ (91-97 July 29th – September 9th). When the Gotham Gangbusters save a young woman from brutal abductors they discover she has no memory and no identifying property, marks or characteristics. With the victim still hunted by her kidnappers, the World’s Greatest Detectives must identify her and stop an unimaginable injustice from occurring…

‘Devil’s Reef’ (98-103, September 16th– October 21st) details how Batman’s cross-continental manhunt for modern-day pirates The Miller Gang coincides with and converges on Alfred’s new hobby of treasure hunting, leading to a deadly entombment and spectacular escape before The Joker breaks jail to clash with new rival The Sparrow who constantly proves herself to be ‘Gotham’s Cleverest Criminal’ (104-110, October 28th – December 9th)… until the Dynamic Duo capture them both.

A fortnight of festive fun and sugar-candy sentiment follows the faithful butler playing ‘Alfred Claus’ (weeks 111-112, December 16th – 23rd) to a group of dead-end kids before a new year beckons and begins the final newspaper cases in ‘Twelvetoes’ (113-118, December 30th 1945-February 3rd 1946). Here an underweight, under-paid beat cop is – somehow! – set to marry a millionairess, but only if an old bankrupt roué with eyes on her bank figures can be stopped from “removing” his rival in blue. Happily, Batman and Robin are on hand to aid and save the connubial underdog, before we enjoy the most influential strip story of all as ‘Oswald Who?’ (February 10th – March 10th) sees the Dynamic Duo enjoying themselves immensely escorting The Penguin around Gotham as the Wily Old Bird seeks to impress his dowager Aunt Miranda. Of course, his best efforts end with him hunted by other hoods for collaborating with the enemy and behind bars once the old lady is safely off home, but at least Batman and all of us now know the villain’s real identity… Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot: a one-off gag that has become a confirmed snippet of Bat-Lore…

‘Hotel Grandeur’ (124-129, March 17th – April 21st) set a missing person mystery in a resort building housing the population and resources of a small city, with Bruce and Batman both hunting an abducted finance minister from Europe through its labyrinthine corridors and tunnels before ‘Catwoman’s Grasshopper Chase’ (130-137, April 28th – June 16th) sees Fred Ray (Superman, Tomahawk, Congo Bill) alternating pencilling with Burnley and Win Mortimer inking Schwartz’s tale of the hunted felon going on the offensive and trying to trash Batman’s reputation for infallibility by making him a laughing stock… yet another time the Dark Knight’s strategy demands Robin dress up as girl…

Finger, Burnley & Mortimer remodelled the story of Two-Face in ‘Half Man – Half Monster’ (138-146, June 23rd – August 18th) as actor Harvey Apollo is driven mad after an acid attack whilst on the witness stand. In the newspaper strip, his subsequent crime and killing spree has no cure or happy ending after Batman is forced to stop him…

When seer and mystic Jandor is murdered live on air by robbers ‘The Curse of the Four Fates!’ (147-154, August 25 – October 13th by Finger, Burnley & Paris) that he gasps out inexorably punishes the perpetrators despite every effort of the Caped Crimebusters to catch and/or save them. The Sunday ventures conclude with Schwartz, Burnley & Paris’ brief bout of ‘Tire Tread Deathtrap’ (weeks 155-156, October 20th & 27th 1946) as a set of tracks lead to the heroes entering and escaping a cunning ambush and getting their man one last time…

This amazing compilation ends with tantalising lost treats beginning with some unattributed Batman strips from an abortive revival in ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1953’, backed up by ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1966’: offering Dailies from that successful venture which you can find fully collected in 3 volumes of Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays.

Also on view are ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1978’ by Martin Pasko, George Tuska & Vince Colletta featuring Superman and Wonder Woman from Justice League based feature The World’s Greatest Superheroes plus ‘The Superman Sunday Special’ activity page by José Luis García-López and examples of the Batman strip revival engendered by the first Tim Burton movie. ‘Later Newspaper Strips: 1989’ offers segments by Max Allan Collins, Bill Messner-Loebs, Carmine Infantino (as “Cinfa”) Marshal Rogers & John Nyberg with the entire celebration closing with a discussion of (Dick) ‘Tracy’s Influence’: comparing names, locales and especially the pioneering strip’s preponderance of grotesque villains…

This lovely oversized (241 x 318 mm) full colour hardback and softcover tome was originally published in conjunction by DC Comics & Kitchen Sink Press in 1991, and is filled with death traps, daring escapes, canny ratiocination, moving melodrama, stirring sentiment and lots and lots of astounding action: in fact a perfect Batman book. It’s long past time it was back in print – and eBooked too – as it’s a must for both Bat-fans and lovers of the artform.
© 1991, 2007 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.