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Battle of Britain War Picture Library


By Ian Kennedy & various (Rebellion/Treasury of British Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-779-4 (HB/Digital edition)

This book contains Discriminatory Material produced during less enlightened times.

By official reckoning – the UK’s at least – The Battle of Britain (10th July – 31st October 1940), began 83 years ago today. German historians consider it to have kicked off in July 1940: one part of a long, continuous campaign that proceeded from until 11th May 1941 when the Wehrmacht changed their failed tactics.

Whatever your opinion, the aerial operation has become a major touchstone for UK culture – like Boudicca or Abolition of the Monasteries – constantly cited, used and abused by dog whistle demagogues, political hacks, chancers and charlatans, all seeking a rabid reactionary unthinking response or quick debating point scored, pissing on the truth value. It was a time of unified dogged, true heroism under pressure on the entire nation’s part.

It has also become a keystone and foundation of our entertainment fiction: the bedrock and basis of every type of tale from gratifying adventure and shocking fantasy to inspirational romance and cathartic comedy. The Battle of Britain has naturally also been made a crucial core component of British comics. Just like the artist celebrated here…

Born in 1932, Ian Kennedy went to Clepington Primary School and attended Dundee’s Morgan Academy before landing his first job at the town’s major employer – just pipping the city’s Marmalade makers. If you look that up you’ll find I’ve just been absolutely hilarious…

Taken on in 1949 as a trainee illustrator for the art department of DC Thomson & Co, Kennedy always claimed his first work was filling in black squares on crossword puzzles for the publisher’s paper The Sunday Post (home of The Broons and Oor Wullie and many other singular classics). He soon graduated to drawing strips – mostly war and especially air combat stories – and by 1953 was also freelancing for the Scottish company’s major English competitor Amalgamated Press (latterly Odhams/Fleetway/IPC). Kennedy could be seen on serials in weeklies Knockout, Hotspur, Wizard, Buster and others, as well as illustrating longer standalone sagas for both publishers’ digest lines in titles such as Thriller Picture Library and Air Ace Picture Library.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he diversified, favouring fantasy themes and generating many classic science fiction sagas for DCT’s new digest Starblazer, all whilst continuing his historical flights of fancy in Commando (War Stories in Pictures), Fleetway Picture Library, War Picture Library et al. Kennedy also exploited his aviation expertise outside comics from the 1980s, in magazines, books and by producing spectacular covers for RAF Leuchars Air Show programmes, even whilst winning his greatest fame with high profile strips and licensed adaptations in Eagle, Battle Picture Weekly, Wildcat, Star Lord, 2000 A.D. and more. The work included Tiger Taggart, Typhoon Tennyson, Blake’s 7, Dan Dare, Judge Dredd, Time Quake, M.A.S.K., M.A.C.H. 1, Invasion, Ro-Busters and countless others.

Generally uncredited throughout his career in the pages of weeklies like Victor, Buddy and the rest, he was most recognisable for his covers – which graced 2000 A.D., Eagle, Star Lord, Tornado Starblazer and especially Commando (for which he painted over 1600 – many after his official retirement in 1997). Ian Kennedy finally laid down his brushes in February 2022…

Two of his very best tales are on view here, but I sadly can’t be as forthcoming on their writers. Even the editors have no credible data on those anonymous stalwarts instead with the biographies at the back namechecking potential candidates/regular contributors Tom Tully, E.W. Evans, Douglas Leach, Gordon W. Brunt, Edward G. Cowan, V. Stokes, R.P. Clegg, James Hart Higgins, Syd J. Bounds, R. Wilding and A. Carney Allan as potential contributors.

Reprinted here are the contents of Air Ace Picture Library #65 & #182 with Kennedy detailing a brace of ripping yarns set in the skies above Blighty in their finest, most fiery hours.

At the end of the mission are the original covers in a full colour painted ‘Gallery’ with #65’s (August 1961) ‘Steel Bats’ followed by its reprint in AAPL #428 (as ‘Cat’s Eyes’), bolstered by the one-&-only AAPL #182’s original cover sortie from February 1964. Resolved not to spoil the fun I’m finally being brief and saying only that opener ‘Steel Bats’ (Air Ace Picture Library #65, August 1961) follows the trials and travails of pitiful novice fighter pilot Flight-Lieutenant Bill Mitchell from hopeless screwup in ‘Chapter1: The Rebel’ through an ignominious, unwanted ‘Transfer Granted’ to night fighter training school. When personal tragedy forces Mitchell to capitalise on an unsuspected natural advantage, Bill and new pal Gunner Wilton become ‘Two Up!’ and darlings of the Brass, but they also inspire ire in night fighter Squadron Leader Esmond Furness… until ‘Mitch’s Private War’ boils over into the bigger conflict and confirms his value, valour and ultimate victory over the real enemy… the bombers blasting London…

‘“Never Say Die” Wapiti’ is another – and rather more mischievous – fish out of water yarn, first seen in February 1964’s Air Ace Picture Library #182. Here, the poor discipline of young pilots is exemplified by Pilot-Officer Stan Perkins whose excessive eagerness and impatience flying Spitfires during the Battle of Britain results in near-catastrophe and his becoming a ‘Sacked Pilot!’

Summarily banished from operations and speedily transferred to “X planes station”, the despondent flier finds it a veritable aircraft graveyard dubbed “Misery Farm” by the other dangerous failures who explain he’s on a dummy field packed with obsolete kit designed to make “Jerries” waste fuel and ordnance. Stan is even more galled to learn he’s the new Commanding Officer…

Resolved to rejoin the Real War, Perkins and like-minded new friend/accomplice Flynn and hapless scavenging engineer Flight Sergeant Foley convert a discarded but serviceable Great War biplane, rendering it airworthy again. Sadly they only end up ‘Chased by a Bomb!’ on the maiden voyage! ‘Under Arrest!’, Stan believes himself doomed to spend his war on the ground and behind bars, but uncanny circumstances conspire to keep the mavericks flying: absconding with the biplane to perpetrate an ‘Unofficial Air Raid’ over France… just as the most important commando mission of the war is going wrong.

Sparking another apparent disaster, shot down by their own side and having to fight their way back to England beside the French Resistance all appear pointless exercises in the aftermath, but on arrival Perkins and Flynn learn ‘The Escape’ has all been worth the effort…

Clever and captivating, smart and spectacular, these war stories are utterly engaging and perfectly spotlight the astounding gifts of one our art form’s most skilled exponents. Come see for yourself…
© 1961, 1964, 2020 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd.

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The Complete Johnny Future


By Alf Wallace, Luis Bermejo & various (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-758-9 (HB/Digital edition)

Gosh I feel inexplicably optimistic and upbeat this week and can’t imagine why. Let’s continue looking forward and back and explore one of our little industry’s best lost secret: a buried masterpiece of international cooperation that has stood the test of time…

Until relatively recently, Britain never really had a handle on superheroes. Although every reader from the 1950s on can cite a particular favourite fantasy muscle-man or costumed champion – from Thunderbolt Jaxon to Morgyn the Mighty to Marvelman, Gadget Man & Gimmick Kid to The Spider, Tri-Man and Phantom Viking to Red Star Robinson, The Leopard from Lime Street and Billy the Cat (& Katie!) and all worthy stalwarts deserving their own archived revivals! – who have populated our pages, they all somehow ultimately lacked conviction. Well, almost all…

During the heady Swinging Sixties days of “Batmania”, just as Marvel Comics was first infiltrating our collective consciousness, a little-remembered strip graced the pages of a short-lived experimental title. The result being sheer, unbridled magic…

With Scotland’s DC Thomson steadily overtaking the London-based competition (monolithic comics publishing giant Amalgamated Press) during the late 1950s & 1960s, the sheer variety of material the southerners unleashed to compete offered incredible vistas in adventure tales. Thanks to Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid’s defection to AP, they also had a wealth of anarchic comedy material to challenge the likes of The Bash Street Kids, Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and their unruly ilk. During that latter end of the period, the Batman TV show sent the world superhero crazy just as AP finished absorbing all its local rivals such as The Eagle’s Hulton Press to form Fleetway, Odhams and ultimately IPC.

Formerly the biggest player in children’s comics, Amalgamated Press (founded by Alfred Harmsworth at the beginning of the 20th century) had stayed at the forefront of sales by latching onto every fad: keeping their material contemporary, if not always fresh or original. The all-consuming monolith had been reprinting the early successes of Marvel comics for a few years, feeding on the growing fashion for US-style action/adventure which had largely supplanted the rather tired True-Blue Brit style of Dan Dare or DCT’s Wolf of Kabul or the Tough of the Track. A key point at that time was that although both part of the Mirror Group, Fleetway and Odhams were deadly rivals…

Power Comics was a sub-brand used by Odhams to differentiate their periodicals containing reprinted American superhero material from the greater company’s regular blend of sports, war, western adventure and gag comics such as Buster, Valiant, Lion or Tiger. During this period, the strictly monochrome Power weeklies did much to popularise budding Marvel characters and their shared universe in this country, which was still poorly served by distribution of the actual American imports.

The line began with Wham! – but only after the comic was well-established. Originally created by newly-ensconced Baxendale, it had launched on June 20th 1964. Initially, the title was designed as a counter to The Beano, as was Smash! (launching February 5th 1966), but the tone of times soon dictated the hiving off into a more distinctive imprint, which was augmented by the creation of little sister Pow!

Pow! premiered with a cover date of January 31st 1967, combining home-grown funnies like Mike Higgs’ The Cloak, Baxendale’s The Dolls of St Dominic’s, Reid’s Dare-a-Day Davy, Wee Willie Haggis: The Spy from Skye and British originated thrillers such as Jack Magic and The Python with the now ubiquitous resized US strips: in this case Amazing Spider-Man, The Hulk and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. The next step was even bolder. Fantastic – and its sister paper Terrific – were notable for not reformatting or resizing the original US artwork whereas in Wham!, Pow! or Smash!, an entire 24-page yarn could be rejigged and squeezed into 10 or 11 pages, and were accompanied by British comedy and adventure strips.

These slick new titles – each with a dynamic back cover pin-up taken from Marvel Comics or created in-house by apprentice comics bods and future superstars Barry Windsor-Smith and Steve Parkhouse (see below) – reprinted US Superhero fare, supplemented by minimal amounts of UK originated filler and editorial.

Fantastic #1 debuted with cover-date February 18th 1967 (but first seen in newsagents on Saturday 11th), revealing the origin stories of Thor, Iron Man and the X-Men, but from the get-go, savvy tykes like me were as engrossed by a short adventure serial also included to fill out the page count. The Missing Link was beautifully drawn and over the following year (February 18th 1967 – February 3rd 1968) would become a truly unique reading experience…

The series began inauspiciously as a homegrown Incredible Hulk knock off. Oddly, editor and writer Alfred “Alf” Wallace crafted for the filler a tone very similar to that adopted by Marvel’s own Green Goliath when he became a small screen star a decade later…

The illustrator was the astoundingly gifted Luis Bermejo Rojo, a star of Spanish comics forced to seek work abroad after the domestic market imploded in 1956. He became a prolific contributor to British strips, working on a succession of moody masterpieces in a variety of genres. These included The Human Guinea Pig, Mann of Battle, Pike Mason, Phantom Force Five and Heros the Spartan, appearing in Girls Crystal, Tina, Tarzan Weekly, Battle Picture Library, Thriller Picture Library The Eagle, Buster, Boys World, Tell Me Why, Look and Learn and many more. Bermejo finally achieved a modicum of his long-deserved acclaim in the 1970s, after joining fellow studio mates José Ortiz, Esteban Maroto and Leopoldo Sanchez working on adult horror stories for Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella.

I’m still a big kid helplessly enmired in nostalgia, but to me his greatest moments were the year spent drawing Johnny Future…

The Missing Link – as the feature was entitled for the first 15 episodes – was disturbingly similar in tone and delivery to television’s Hulk of the 1970s. The strip’s titular protagonist was superhumanly strong, seemingly intellectually challenged and tragically misunderstood. The saga combined human-scaled drama with lost world exoticism in the manner of King Kong, as can be see seen following Steve Holland’s incisive and informative Introduction ‘Welcome to the Future!’, when the drama opens in the wilds of Africa.

A bestial man-beast roams the veldt, swamps and mountains, until great white hunter Bull Belson comes to capture him, accompanied by secretary/photographer Lita Munro. The infamous tracker sees only profit in his quarry: a mute beast who, after much frustratingly destructive behaviour, is lured into captivity by an inexplicable attraction to Miss Munro…

To be fair, she actually has the brute’s interests at heart, attempting to befriend and teach the Link on the slow voyage back to England, but on reaching London Dock, the prospective sideshow attraction is spooked by mocking labourers and shockingly breaks his bonds… and cage.

Brutally rampaging across the city at the heart of the Swinging Sixties, the Link is hunted by the army, but no one realizes that beneath the bestial brow is a cunning brain. Hopping a freight train north, he seeks refuge in an isolated government atomic research laboratory run by Dr. Viktor Kelso and is accidentally dosed with vast amounts of transformative radiation. Unleashed uncanny forces jumpstart an evolutionary leap, turning the primitive beast into a perfect specimen of human manhood, while simultaneously sparking near-catastrophic meltdown in the machinery. It is only averted by the massive instinctive intellect of the new man. Arrested as a terrorist spy, the silent superman is very publicly tried in court and again encounters Lita.

Kelso meanwhile has deduced the true course of events. As the Link uses his prison time to educate himself in the ways of the world, the unstable scientist works on a deadly super-weapon, prompting the Link to escape jail and clear his name. With super-strength and his newly enhanced massive mind, the task is easy but he still needs Lita to complete his plan…

The series cheerfully plundered the tone of the times. The drama seamlessly morphs into and pilfers chilling contemporary science fiction tropes as Kelso’s device brings Britain to a literal standstill, leaving only the evolved outsider to thwart a staggeringly ambitious scheme.

Set on a fresh, bold openly heroic path, and despite still being a hunted fugitive, the Link creates a civilian identity (John Foster) and a costumed persona just as the nation is assaulted by ‘The Animal Man’: a psionic dictator able to control all beasts and creatures. Incredibly, that includes recently ascendant Johnny Future, with the villain only defeated through overextending himself after accidentally awakening a primordial horror from Jurassic times…

In short order, Johnny Future tackles Dr. Jarra and his killer robot; a society of evil world-conquering scientists; invention-plundering shapeshifting aliens; prehistoric giants and deranged science tyrant The Master.

Fully hitting his stride, the tomorrow man overcomes personality warping psychopath Mr. Opposite and defeats the top assassins of the Secret Society of Science – ‘The Brain, The Brute and the Hunter’, prior to saving Earth from marauding living metal and destroying Dr. Plasto’s animated waxwork killers.

… And that was that. Without warning the comic merged with sister publication Terrific and there was no more room for a purely British superhero. Here, however, there’s one final memorable delight: a 14-page, full-colour complete adventure with Johnny battling diabolical primordial revenant Disastro, as first seen in Fantastic Annual 1968, as well as a colour pin-up from Fantastic #30 (September 9th 1967).

Interest in superheroes and fantasy in general were on the wane and British weeklies were diversifying. Some switched back to war, sports and fantasy adventure yarns, whilst – with comedy strips on the rise again – others became largely humour outlets. The Complete Johnny Future is a unique beast: a blend of British B-movie chic with classic monster riffs seen through the same bleakly compelling lens that spawned Doctor Who and Quatermass. It is the social sci fi of John Wyndham trying on glamourous superhero schtick whilst blending the breakneck pace of a weekly serial with the chilling moodiness of kitchen sink crime dramas.

There was never anything quite like this before – or since – and if you love dark edges to your comics escapism you must have this amazing collection far sooner than tomorrow.
™ & © 1967, 1968, & 2020 Rebellion Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Bunny vs Monkey book 8: The Impossible Pig! (paperback edition)


By Jamie Smart, with Sammy Borras (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-312-7 (Digest HB)

Britain and America were a bit preoccupied on July 4th this year and might have missed this major milestone of the Good Times returning. However, now that the happy dust has settled and before all the bunting gets packed away, lets celebrate another earthshaking milestone: the softcover escape of a truly wonderful comics read…

Bunny vs Monkey has been the hairy/fuzzy backbone of The Phoenix since the very first issue back in 2012: recounting a madcap vendetta gripping animal arch-enemies in an idyllic arcadia masquerading as more-or-less mundane but critically endangered English woodlands.

Concocted with gleefully gentle mania by cartoonist, comics artist and novelist Jamie Smart (Fish Head Steve!; Looshkin; Max and Chaffy, Flember), his trendsetting, mindbending multi award-winning yarns have been wisely retooled as graphic albums available in digest editions such as this one.

All the tail-biting tension and animal argy-bargy began yonks ago after an obnoxious little beast plopped down in the wake of a disastrous British space shot. Crashlanding in Crinkle Woods – scant miles from his launch site – lab animal Monkey believed himself the rightful owner of a strange new world, despite every effort to dissuade him by reasonable, rational, sensible, genteel, contemplative forest resident Bunny. For all his patience, propriety and good breeding, the laid-back lepine could not contain or control the incorrigible idiot ape, who to this day remains a rude, noise-loving, chaos-creating, troublemaking lout…

Problems are exacerbated by other unconventional Crinkle creatures, particularly the skunk called Skunky possessing a mad scientist’s intellect and attitude to life plus a propensity for building extremely dangerous robots, bio-beasts and sundry other super-weapons. Here – with adaptive artistic assistance from design deputy Sammy Borras – the war of nerves and mega-ordnances resumes even though everybody thought all the battles had ended. They even seemingly forgot ever-encroaching Hyoomanz…

Divided as ever into seasonal outbursts, this magnificent mass-market (and now soft-shelled) amalgamation of insanity opens in the traditional manner: starting slowly with a sudden realisation. Probably by using his fingers, Monkey has worked out that Bunny’s side has more good guys (Ai, Pig Piggerton, Weenie, Metal E.V.E. and Le Fox) than his own bad ones! Wisely rejecting Skunky’s offer to make more evildoers, the sinisterly stupid simian seeks to steal some of Bunny’s buddies: making insidious individual approaches in ‘A Big Hole’. One immediate success goes utterly unnoticed whilst those worthy stalwarts debate ways to get hapless Pig out of a giant pit before finding the ‘Tunnels’ the sweet simpleton used to get there in the first place…

First contact and a really strange day for all – including a wholly new kind of Crinkle critter – occurs in ‘Jerb-eing Unreasonable’, before Monkey commits carnage in a psychic bodysuit that can literally ‘Imagine That’: opening the doors to another Spring. At this time a certain white rabbit is pilfering carrots from an angry Hyooman, and saved by Monkey in a colossal exo-skeletal ‘Spade-O-Matic’, officially opening hostilities between bipeds and beasts…

Meanwhile and maybe later, Bunny experiences ‘Mossy Mayhem’ when Skunky’s latest experiment escapes, even as Metal E.V.E ponders astral reality and rashly asks her friend to explain ‘Pig Science’…

As Monkey demands 25% more evil from his crew, he’s distracted by Metal Steve’s latest faux pas – a doomed relationship with ‘Wipey’ – and ‘Sun 2.0’ renders repercussions of Skunky upgrading the source of all light and warmth, and Action Beaver is subject to a ‘Body Swap’ after Monkey covets his apparent immunity to pain and harm. It doesn’t end well…

Once the Great Woodland Bake-off inevitably culminates in ‘Cakes and Bruises’ Monkey use a superstrength serum unwisely. As his bones mend he has a Damascus moment: deducing that being a ‘Good Monkey’ might be less harmful. He gives nobility a go… but it too doesn’t end well…

A fresh face materialises as Pig meets ‘The Visitor’: inadvertently saving Lucky the Red Panda from atomic discorporation. Sadly, the effect is only temporary and when their memories merge, Lucky is stuck in this dimension with our plucky porcine adrift in the molecular stream of the cosmos. Trapped on Earth, the stranger tries desperately to convince all and sundry she is ‘Actually Pig’, often assisted by typical distractions like marauding sprout-farting monster ‘Gruntulak!’ and a no-holds-barred campaign to elect ‘President Monkey’.

Skunky starts disassembling woodland residents: harvesting DNA to make endless duplicates in ‘All A-Clone’ but even Skunky’s science can’t handle Lucky…

As Summer starts, mad science wins again. Skunky sets a trap to prove Lucky is ‘Not Pig’ and even finds what happened to the lost one, after which Monkey manages to murder cloud-gazing in ‘Weather or Not’ and Weenie gets a shocking letter in ‘Blackmail’. With the truth about to out, ‘Pocket Pig’ finds our gentle woodland folk forming a torch-waving mob to establish their real friend’s fate, only to find Skunky has already found a way to exploit the situation. However, when he constructs a device to broach outer realms, Monkey makes a shambles of the ‘Portal Recall’…

When the awful anthropoid gets a mail-order giant robotic Chicken of Darkness, he never anticipated some assembly required and the woods are saved by ‘A Loose Nobble’, allowing good manners and better natures to resurface. Thus, all the animals contribute to ‘Lucky’s Home’ – especially Monkey with his goop gun and crushing space-sphere of doom…

Elsewhere, as Metal Steve and Metal E.V.E hold a private contest to decide the best automaton in ‘Who Will Win the War of the Robots’, Skunky’s clumsiness triggers a crop of carnivorous blooms in ‘Chomp!’ As Monkey’s alter ego “Captain Explosives” accidentally uncovers a crop of chronal crystals in ‘Time and Again’, Skunky makes a great breakthrough: a remote control for existence with a ‘Freeze Frame’ able to warp and rewind reality…

With everything on pause, ‘The Second Pigging’ heralds the return of a lost friend whose voyage to the cosmos has resulted in Complete Spiritual Enlightenment and manifestation as a Non-Corporeal Vision. Sadly, when nobody cheers, the Ultimate Pig pops off in a dudgeon, leaving Lucky to save the day and restore time in ‘Hairy Nearly’: a major turning point that upsets many participants…

In what passes for a return to normality, Monkey is possessed by the ghost of a chicken and triggers an invasion of ‘Zombies!’ just as Autumn opens with Skunky & Monkey unleashing a giant robot that is ‘Turtle-y Ridiculous’…

Former good guy Fantastic Le Fox is also possessed and proffers ‘A Warning’ of failure and worse which Monkey immediately reacts badly to even as transcendent Pig returns to make contact with and elevate ‘Prophet Beaver’. Of course, no one listens…

Monkey meanwhile has been messing with elemental forces, turning the woods into an ‘Expressionistic’ nightmare before losing patience and challenging Bunny to a duel of ‘Brain Power’. After winning by cheating, the simian sap learns a painful lesson that is only the beginning of his woes as ‘Double Bunny’ depicts a doppelganger emerging who will change the status quo in quite appalling ways…

Lost and distraught, Bunny undertakes a mission for Skunky into the bowels of the earth in search of ‘Long-Lost Flopsy’. Guess how that ends…

Drama intensifies when ‘The Impossible Pig’ returns to reality only to learn that being ‘Disappointingly Mortal’ would be better than life as a power battery for Skunky, before ‘Lucky’s Fortune’ turns the tide…

Bunny has not been right since meeting the other rabbit and with Metal E.V.E.’s aid ‘The Search is On’ for a boon companion. Only briefly interrupted by reality running wild, the hunt resumes in ‘Better Luck Next Time!’ as Le Fox’s niece arrives for some rowdy ‘Fennec Fun!’ She’s on the run and another relation isn’t far behind her…

Solitude has bitten our hero hard and nothing Monkey can do will distract ‘A Lonely Bunny’ in his morose meanderings, so the little meany challenges Impossible Pig instead, and learns real suffering in ‘Butt Then…’

When Winter arrives, Lucky sees snow for the first time, enduring cheeky hostiles chucking chilly snowballs until the wonder-pig steps up as ‘Protector’ but is tricked by Skunky who wants to depower the self-promoting saviour ‘At All Costs’…

Resolved to return to the Molecular Stream, Impossible Pig takes advice from unknowable factor Le Fox, but stumbles into a wild Christmas Party on his way to the fabulous Lake of Eternity. He also meets Lucky who wants to leave this reality just as much, but as they argue over who should take the one-way ride, a dear friend and desolate hero is already ‘Jumping the Queue’…

To Be Continued…

The agonised anxiety-addled animal anarchy might have ended for now, but there are still secrets to share: specifically detailed instructions on ‘How to Draw Lucky’ plus a preview of other treats and wonders available in The Phoenix to wind down from all that angsty furore…

The zany zenith of absurdist adventure, Bunny vs Monkey is weird, wild wit, inspired invention, stunning sentiment and cracking cartooning all stuffed into one eccentrically excellent extravagant package. These tails (tee hee!) never fail to deliver jubilant joy for grown-ups of every vintage, even those who claim they only get it for their kids. This is the kind of comic book parents beg kids to read to them. Shouldn’t that be you?
Text and illustrations © Fumboo Ltd. 2023. All rights reserved.

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Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays volume 1: 1966-1967


By Whitney Ellsworth, Joe Giella, Sheldon Moldoff, Carmine Infantino, Bob Powell, Werner Roth, Curt Swan & various (Library of American Comics)
ISBN: 987-1-61377-845-6 (HB)

Last century in America the newspaper comic strip was the Holy Grail all cartoonists and graphic narrative storytellers aspired to and hungered for; syndicated across the country and the planet. Always a prime tool of circulation-building, strips won millions of readers and were regarded (in most places) as a more mature and sophisticated form of literature than comic books.

They also paid better, and the Holiest of Holies was a full-colour Sunday page, so it was always something of a poisoned chalice if comic book characters became so popular that they swam against the tide and became a syndicated serial strip. After all, weren’t funnybooks invented just to reprint the strips in cheap accessible form?

Both Superman and Wonder Woman made the jump soon after their debuts and many features have done so since. Due to numerous war-time complications, the Batman and Robin newspaper strip was slow getting its shot, but when the Dynamic Duo finally hit the comics section of papers, the feature proved to be one of the best-regarded, highest quality examples of the trend, both in Daily and Sunday formats (and we’ll be covering what collections there are of those landmarks quite soon in this Dark Knight anniversary year).

The 1940s strips never achieved the circulation they deserved, but the Sundays were latterly given a new lease of life when DC began including selected episodes in the 1960s Batman 80-Page Giants and Annuals. Those exceedingly high-quality adventures were ideal short stories, adding an extra cachet of exoticism for youngsters captivated by simply seeing their heroes in tales that were positively ancient and redolent of History with a capital “H”.

Such was not the case as the decade proceeded when, for a relatively brief moment, humanity went bananas for superheroes in general but most especially went “Bat-Mad”…

Comic books’ Silver Age utterly revolutionised a creatively moribund medium cosily snoozing in unchallenging complacency, bringing a modicum of sophistication to the returning genre of masked mystery men. For quite some time the changes instigated by Julius Schwartz in Showcase #4 (October 1956) had rippled out to affect all National/DC Comics’ superhero characters but generally passed by Batman and Robin. Fans buying Detective Comics, Batman, World’s Finest Comics and latterly Justice League of America read exploits that – in look and tone – were largely unchanged from safely anodyne fantasies that had turned the Dark Knight into a mystery-solving, alien-fighting costumed Boy Scout after the 1940s turned into the 1950s.

By the end of 1963, however, Schwartz having – either personally or by example – revived and revitalised the majority of DC’s line (and, by extension and imitation, the entire industry) with his reinvention of the Superhero, was asked to work his magic with the creatively stalled nigh-moribund Caped Crusaders.

Shepherding his usual team of top-notch creators, the Editor stripped down the core-concept, downplaying the ETs, outlandish villains and daft transformations, bringing cool modernity to the capture of criminals and overseeing a streamlining rationalisation of the art style itself. The most apparent change to us kids was a yellow circle around the Bat-symbol but, far more importantly, the stories similarly changed as a subtle aura of genuine menace had crept back in. At the same time Hollywood was in production of a television series based on Batman and, through the sheer karmic insanity that permeates the universe, the studio executives were basing their interpretation upon the addictively daft material DC was emphatically turning its editorial back on rather than the “New Look Batman” currently enthralling readers.

The Batman TV show premiered on January 12th 1966 and ran for three seasons of 120 episodes, airing twice weekly for the first two. It was a monumental, world-wide hit and sparked a wave of imitation. Resulting media hysteria and fan frenzy generated an insane degree of Bat-awareness, no end of spin-offs and merchandise – including a movie – and introduced us all to the phenomenon of overkill. No matter how much we might squeal and foam about it, even 60 years later, to a huge portion of this planet’s population Batman is always going to be that “Zap! Biff! Pow!” buffoonish Boy Scout in a mask…

“Batmania” exploded across the world and almost as quickly became toxic and vanished, but at its height sparked a fresh newspaper strip incarnation. The strip was a huge syndication success and even reached fuddy-duddy Britain, not in our papers and journals but as the cover feature of weekly comic Smash! (with the 20th issue onwards).

Overwhelmingly successful, Batman’s TV show ended in March 1968. As it foundered and faded away, the global fascination with “camp” superheroes – and no, the term had nothing to do with sexual orientation no matter what you and Mel Brooks might suspect about Men in Tights – burst as quickly as it had boomed and the Caped Crusader was left with a hard core of dedicated fans and followers who now wanted their hero back…

From the time when the Gotham Guardians could do no wrong comes this superb collection re-presenting the bright and breezy, intentionally zany cartoon classics, augmented by a wealth of background material, topped up with oodles of unseen scenes and detail to delight the most ardent Baby-boomer nostalgia-freaks.

It opens with an astonishingly informative and astoundingly picture-packed, candidly cool introduction from comics historian Joe Desris entitled ‘A History of the Batman and Robin Newspaper Strip’, stuffed with a wealth of newspaper promotional materials, premiums and giveaways, sketches, comic book covers and the lowdown on how the strip was coordinated to work in conjunction with the regular comic books. The Dailies and Sundays were all scripted by former DC writer/editor – and the company’s Hollywood liaison/producer – Whitney Ellsworth (Tillie the Toiler, Congo Bill) and initially illustrated by Bob Kane’s long-term secret art collaborator Sheldon Moldoff, before inker Joe Giella was tapped by the TV studio to provide a slick, streamlined modern look in the visuals – frequently as penciller but ALWAYS as embellisher.

Since the feature was a 7-day-a-week job, Giella often called in few comicbook buddies to help lay-out and draw the strip; luminaries such as Carmine Infantino, Bob Powell, Werner Roth, Curt Swan and more…

Back then, black-&-white Dailies and full-colour Sundays were usually offered as separate packages with continuity strips often generating different storylines for each. With Batman the strip started out that way, but switched to unified 7-day continuities in December 1966.

For convenience, this collection begins with the Sunday-only yarns. As on TV, the first villain du jour was a certain top-hatted raucous raptor…

‘Penguin Perpetrated a Prank’ (May 29th – July 10th 1966) saw the Fowl Felon and masked moll Beulah go on a rather uninspired crime spree, after which ‘The Nasty Napoleon’ (July 17th – October 16th) introduced a pint-sized plunderer with larcenous intent and delusions of military grandeur. Moldoff was replaced by Giella &Infantino at the end of August, if you were wondering…

Contemporarily “Swinging England” was almost as big a craze as Batman so it was no surprise the Dynamic Duo would hop across The Pond to meet well-meaning but bumbling imitators ‘Batchap and Bobbin’, fighting crime in the sleepy hamlet of Lemon Regis (October 23rd – December 18th) after which the Sundays were incorporated into the working week storylines.

Monochrome Dailies launched on May 30th: Ellsworth & Moldoff kicking off with a healthy dose of sex & violence as ‘Catwoman is a Wily Wench’ (running to July 9th 1966) saw the sultry bandit easily captured only to break out of jail and go on a vengeance-fuelled spree intended to end Batman’s career and life. Next came ‘Two Jokers and a Laughing Girl’ (July 11th – September 24th) wherein the Clown Prince of Crime is paroled into the custody of Bruce Wayne, whilst covertly robbing Gotham blind by employing a body-double. As Giella took over the art chores, it took a guest shot from Superman to iron out that macabre miscreant’s merry muddle.

Claiming to have been robbed of his rightfully stolen loot, the Wily Bird brigand became ‘Penguin the Complainant’ (September 26th – October 8th), demanding his greatest enemies and the Gotham police catch a modern-day pirate plaguing him. That led in turn to a flotilla of fists and foolishness as Batman & Robin began ‘Flying the Jolly Roger’ (October 10th – December 9th), after which Daily and Sunday segments unified as our courteous but severely outmatched Chivalrous Crusaders faced their greatest challenge from a trio of college girls: The Ivy League Dropouts. The co-ed crooks and their floral field commander seen in ‘The Sizzling Saga of Poison Ivy’ (December 10th 1966 – March 17th 1967) were unrelated to the psychotic poisoner created by Robert Kanigher in Batman #181 (June 1966) in all but name…

Like its TV counterpart, the strip began increasingly featuring real-world guest stars and the bad girls’ scheme to plunder hospitality magnate Conrad Hilton‘s latest enterprise – The Batman Hilton – led to comedic cross-dressing hijinks, a doomed affair for Bruce and plenty of publicity for all concerned…

The guest policy was expanded in ‘Jack Benny’s Stolen Stradivarius’ (March 18th – April 30th) as the infamously penny-pinching comedian promised Gotham’s Gangbusters a $1000-an-hour stipend (for charity, of course) to recover his fiddle and insisted on accompanying them everywhere to ensure they worked at top speed…

A major character debuted in ‘Batgirl Ain’t your Sister’ (May 1st – July 9th) with a masked mystery woman prowling the night streets. She was beating up plenty of baddies but their loot never seemed to be recovered…

With no clues and nothing to go on, all Batman & Robin could do was masquerade as crooks and rob places in hopes of being caught by the “Dominoed Daredoll”, but by the time they found each other The Riddler had involved himself, planning to kill everybody and keep all that accumulated loot for himself…

Riding a wave and feeling ambitious, Ellsworth & Giella began their longest saga yet as ‘Shivering Blue Max, “Pretty Boy” Floy and Flo’ (July 10th 1967 – March 18th 1968 and ending in the next book) saw a perpetually hypothermic criminal pilot accidentally down the Batcopter and erroneously claim the underworld’s million dollar bounty on Batman & Robin. The heroes were not dead, but the crash had caused the Caped Crusader to lose his memory. As Robin and faithful manservant Alfred sought to remedy his affliction, Max collected his prize and jetted off for sunnier climes. With Batman missing, neophyte crimebuster Batgirl tracked down the heroes – incidentally learning their secret identities – and was instrumental in restoring him to action… if not quite his full functioning faculties.

When underworld paymaster BG (Big) Trubble heard the heroes had returned he quite understandably instituted procedures to get his money back, forcing Max to return to Gotham where he stupidly fell foul of Pretty Boy before that hip young gunsel and his sister Flo kicked off a murderous scheme to fleece a horoscope-addicted millionaire…

To Be Continued and concluded, Bat-Fans…

Supplementing the parade of guilty pleasures is a copious, comprehensive and fabulously educational section on ‘Notes on Stories in this Volume’ – also generously illustrated with covers, photos and show-&-strip arcana – as well as a fascinating behind-the-scenes display highlighting editorial corrections and alterations to the strips required by those ever-so-fussy TV studio people. Everything then ends for now with a schematic key to ‘The Batman Cast’ as depicted on the back cover.

The stories in this compendium reflect gentler times and an editorial policy focusing as much on broad humour as Batman’s reputation as a manhunter, so the colourful, psychotic costumed super-villains are in a minority here, but if you’re of a certain age or open to fun-over-thrills this a collection well worth your attention.

Batman: Silver Age Dailies and Sundays 1966-1967 was the first of huge (305 x 236 mm) lavish, high-end hardback collections starring the Gotham Gangbusters, and another crucial addition to the superb commemorative series of Library of American Comics which has preserved and re-presented in luxurious splendour such landmark strips as Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Little Orphan Annie, Terry and the Pirates, Bringing Up Father, Rip Kirby, Polly and her Pals and many other cartoon icons. Hopefully one day they will all be available digitally too…

If you love the era, or simply the medium of serial graphic narratives, these stories are great comics reading, and this is a book you must have.
© 2014 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. Batman and all related characters and elements ™ & © DC Comics.

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Billionaires: The Lives of the Rich and Powerful


By Darryl Cunningham (Myriad Editions)
ISBN: 978-1-91240-822-1 (PB)

Just in case you missed the last few days here’s a sly reminder of what we’ve just voted to end – at least as concerns direct involvement in public life…

There are books to read, books you should read – and some, certainly, that you shouldn’t – and there are Important books. The relatively new field of graphic novels has many of the first but still boasts precious few important books yet. Thankfully, British documentarian, journalist and cartoonist Darryl Cunningham seems to specialise in the latter and apparently never rests…

It’s hard enough to get noticed within the industry (simply excelling at your craft is not enough) but when comics does generate something wonderful, valid, powerful, true to our medium yet simultaneously breaking beyond into the wide world and making a mark, the reviews from that appreciative greater market come thick and fast – so I’m not going to spend acres of text praising this forthright, potentially controversial and damning examination of Earth’s Newest (but hopefully not Last) Dark Gods – the Super Rich.

Multi-disciplined artist Cunningham was born in 1960, lived a pretty British life (didn’t we all?) and graduated from Leeds College of Art. A welcome regular on the Small Press scene of the 1990s, his early strips appeared in legendary paper-based venues such as Fast Fiction, Dead Trees, Inkling, Turn and many others.

In 1998, he & Simon Gane crafted Meet John Dark for the much-missed Slab-O-Concrete outfit and it remains one of my favourite books of the era. You should track it down or agitate for a new edition.

Briefly sidelining comics as the century ended, Cunningham worked on an acute care psychiatric ward: a period informing 2011 graphic novel Psychiatric Tales, a revelatory inquiry into mental illness delivered as cartoon reportage.

As well as crafting web comics for Forbidden Planet and personal projects Uncle Bob Adventures, Super-Sam and John-of-the-Night or The Streets of San Diablo, he’s been consolidating a pole position in the field of graphic investigative reporting; specifically science history, economics and socio-political journalism via books such as Science Tales, Supercrash: How to Hijack the Global Economy, Graphic Science: Seven Journeys of Discovery and The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality and the Financial Crisis.

This offering details the rise and pernicious all-pervasive influence of three icons of the plutocratic ideal, all while debunking such self-deluding and damaging public myths as “self-made”, “coming from nothing” and “fair and honest”…

It opens with a pictorial Introduction outlining how late 19th and early 20th century robber barons of the Gilded Age set the scene for the rise of today’s financial overlords – and how governments responded to them…

Depicted in clear, simple, easily accessible imagery, Cunningham then deconstructs carefully crafted legends and official biographies of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, energy barons Charles & David Koch and internet retail supremo/space cadet Jeff Bezos with an even-handedness I’m not sure any other investigative author could match – or would want to.

Via an avalanche of always-attributable, deftly delineated facts and reported events, the artist delivers the very opposite of hard-hitting polemic, instead massaging and lathering readers with an ocean of appetising data allowing us make up our own minds about proudly ruthless apex business predators who have controlled governments, steered populations and reshaped the planet in their quest for financial dominance.

Best of all, Cunningham even has the courage to offer bold – and serious – suggestions on how to rectify the current state of affairs in his Afterword, and (should anybody’s lawyers or tax accountants be called upon) backs up all his cartoon classwork with a vast and daunting list of References for everything cited in the book.

Comics has long been the most effective method of imparting information and eliciting reaction (that’s why assorted governments and militaries have used them for hard and soft propaganda over the last century and a half), and with Billionaires: The Lives of the Rich and Powerful we finally see that force being used against today’s greatest threat to continued existence…
© Darryl Cunningham 2019. All rights reserved.

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The Thirteenth Floor vol. 01


By John Wagner, Alan Grant & José Ortiz & various (Rebellion Studios)
ISBN:978-1-78108-653-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Let’s pause for another shamble down memory lane for us oldsters whilst – perhaps – offering a fresh, untrodden path for younger fans of the fantastic in search of a typically quirky British comics experience.

This stunning paperback/eBook package is another knockout nostalgia-punch from Rebellion Studios’ superb and ever-expanding Treasury of British Comics, collecting the opening episodes of seminal shocker The Thirteenth Floor.

The strip debuted in the first issue of Scream and ran the distance, spanning all 15 issues from 24th March – 30th June 1984. It survived the comic’s premature cancelation and subsequent merger, continuing for a good long while in Eagle & Scream – with the remaining stories here taking us from 1st September 1984 to 13th April 1985. Although arguably the most popular – and certainly most lavishly illustrated – of Scream’s fearsome features, The Thirteenth Floor is actually the third strip to be gathered from that lost dark wellspring, preceded by Monster in 2016 and The Dracula File in 2017. Mayhap we’ll get to those in the fullness of time.

This book accomplishes its terrorising in stark, shocking monochrome but does include at the end a gallery of full-colour wraparound covers by series artist José Ortiz, and then-newcomer Brett Ewins, as well as introductory contextual notes from editor Ian Rimmer and a darkly dry history lesson from co-author Alan Grant. With regular writing partner John Wagner, he wrote all the electronically eldritch episodes as enigmatic “Ian Holland”.

Grant maintained the strip derived in part from his own time of residence on the 11th floor of a similar tower block and, having done my own time in a south London multi-story edifice, I can imagine why the sojourn was so memorable for him…

The series benefitted tremendously from the diligent mastery of its sole illustrator – sublime José Ortiz Moya: a veteran creator with a truly international pedigree. Born on September 1st 1932 in Cartagena in the Spanish region of Murcia, he started professional illustration early, after winning a comics competition in national comic Chicos. Whilst working on comics digest books and strips like Sigur el Vikingo, he gradually transitioned to the better-paying British market, beginning in 1962 by drawing newspaper strip Carolynn Baker for The Daily Express. Ortiz also worked on numerous kids’ comics here before making a wise move to America in 1974, and became a mainstay of Warren Publishing on horror magazines Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella.

In the early 1980s Ortiz returned to Spain, joining Leopold Sánchez, Manfred Sommer and Jordi Bernet in short-lived super-group cooperative Metropol, even as he worked with Antonio Segura on many long-lasting strips such as post-apocalyptic action-thriller Hombre.

Metropol’s collapse brought him back to British comics where he limned The Tower King and The House of Daemon for Eagle, strips including Rogue Trooper for 2000AD… and this macabre masterpiece…

Ortiz continued to excel, eventually settling in the Italian comics biz, with significant contributions to megastars Tex Willer, Ken Parker and Magico Vento. He died in Valencia on December 23rd 2013.

Because of the episodic nature of the material, originally delivered in sharp, spartan 4-page bursts (eventually dropping to a standard 3), I’m foregoing my usual self-indulgent and laborious waffle: leaving you with a précis of the theme and major landmarks…

A little bit into the future (as seen from the dystopian-yet-still-partially-civilised Britain of 1984), a council tower block is equipped with an experimental computer system to supervise all the building systems and services whilst simultaneously monitoring welfare and wellbeing of tenants. Maxwell Tower (one of the names we creative contributors waggishly called the offices of IPC’s comics division at that time) looms into the rather bleak urban night.

Within, however, novel computer-controlled systems assure everyone enjoys a happy life. The servers even manifest a congenial personality offering advice and a bit of company. Dubbed “Max” by tenants, it/he – just like $%*£!! Alexa or Siri today – increasingly inserts itself into every aspect of their lives through its constantly active monitoring systems. For their own good, naturally…

Because humans are fallible and quite silly, the architects fancifully never designated a 13th floor. Cognizant of human superstition, they designed their edifice to arbitrarily transit straight from 12 to 14. A human onsite controller/concierge/handyman lives in the penthouse. His name is Jerry and everything is just hunky-dory… until one day it isn’t…

The troubles apparently begin when a mother and son move in. They are trying to make a new start after losing the family breadwinner, but are plagued by a particularly persistent and violent debt-collector. After Mr. Kemp threatens the bereaved Henderson family, he stalks into an elevator and is later found on the ground floor, having suffered an agonising and fatal heart attack. Police write it off as an accident or misadventure, but they don’t know the truth.

Over-protective Max is far more powerful than anyone suspects and can turn his lifts into a terrifyingly realistic arena of terror, judgement and retribution. He calls it his “Thirteenth Floor”…

Over weeks and months, Max detects outrages and injustices and promptly subjects assorted vandals, hooligans, burglars, bailiffs, lawyers, conmen, extortionists, shoddy plumbers, shady workmen and even a clan of problem tenants preying on their own neighbours to various impossibly realistic terrors of the damned. Equally vexatious to the monitoring “mommy-dearest” machine is the useless bureaucrat from its own housing department who treats people like subhuman trash. Max devises a very special hell for him after the uncivil servant’s lazy blunders temporarily make one of Max’s families homeless…

Sometimes punishment experiences are enough to modify behaviour and ensure silence, but too often the end result is simply another death. It happens so frequently Max is reluctantly compelled to brainwash husky tenant Bert Runch into being his agent: a mindless drone hypnotically conditioned to be Max’s arms and legs, excising incriminating evidence – or bodies – and forgetting what he’s done.

Sadly, veteran policeman Sergeant Ingram suspects something is amiss and doggedly persists in returning to Maxwell Tower over and over again, ultimately forcing the coddling computer into precipitate action…

Moreover, as Max’s actions grow increasingly bold, Jerry starts suspecting something is wrong. Checking the hardware and finding a cracked Integrated Function Module, Jerry calls in council computer experts and Max must act quickly to preserve his unsanctioned intellectual autonomy. This triggers a cascade of uncontrollable events with Max taking ever-wilder risks, and results in the tower being stormed by an army of police determined to shut down the AI murder machine…

That’s where this moody masterpiece pauses with a great big To Be Continued…

These strip shockers are amongst the most memorable and enjoyable in British comics: smart, scary and rendered with stunning imagination and skill. Don’t believe for a moment the seemingly limited set-up restricts visual impact. The macabre punitive illusions of The Thirteenth Floor incorporate every possible monster from zombies and dinosaurs to hell itself and history’s greatest villains, whilst the settings range from desert islands to the infinities of time and space. This a superb sophisticated suspense, leavened with positively cathartic social commentary that is impossible to dismiss.
© 1984, 1985 & 2018 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

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Disciples of the Soil


By B. Mure (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-79-0 (TPB)

Most forms of fiction depend on strong, memorable characters and heaping helpings of tension, suspense and/or action to hold the attention. You need to be really good and quite brave to try anything outside such often-infantile parameters. B. Mure is that good.

The Bristol-based artist and storyteller’s other notable work to date is the remarkable webcomic Boy Comics. You should check that out too.

In 2018, they pulled together threads and ideas from years of planning, dreaming and doodling and began building an epic fantasy saga. It started with Original Graphic Novel Ismyre, introducing an ancient city of song and tired wonders, unsettled by magical eco-terrorists and weaponised flora. Here a sculptor’s works inspired and moved the strangest of folk. This magical city was entering a period of “interesting times”…

It was followed by Terrible Means, which seemingly had little to do with the protagonists of the first, instead taking readers back to a time when wizardly green rebels Niklas, Henriett and Emlyn were simply researchers whose studies divined a growing imbalance in the natural ecosystem…

The Tower in the Sea focused on a different point in time, providing fresh insights to what was shaping up to be something vast and expansively multi-layered. Contemporary Ismyre was more dictatorship than civil metropolis, and for years gifted children had been spirited away from it by a clique of outlaw magicians: taken to a hidden island to be schooled in magical arts. That haven of learning was not proof against intrigue and plots, however, and now unscholarly events were upsetting lots of apple carts…

Fourth volume Methods of Dyeing returned us to the titular  Big City, where educational themes and macabre mysteries stoked potential scandal at staid, stolid Ismyre University. Mere moments before delivery of a much heralded lecture, visiting botanist, textile expert and master dyer Professor Detlef (of rival city-state Belsithan) was murdered. The event manifested the usual journalistic scavengers, but both the Chief of Police and University Dean were suspiciously keen to shut down sordid speculation – and all enquiries – as rapidly as possible.

That prospect was ended by a forceful Belsithan detective assuming jurisdiction and making herself extremely unwelcome in every stratum of college and city life. Her diligent, persistent investigations uncovered many secrets and suspects plus a possible motive: Detlef had accommodated beliefs of the Eco-anarchist movement that was increasingly disrupting Ismyre’s economy and politics…

Now fifth fragment Disciples of the Soil proves again how greed and arrogance lead to disaster, highlighting the perils of unchecked progress, profit motives and how disappointment in those who govern us only lasts until patience runs out.

Commerce has always been embedded in Ismyre’s bones and where there’s money there will always be politics, power and disparity – and those who oppose the abuses that come with them. The city-state is (more or less) at a stage of evolution mirroring our own industrial revolution. There is a thriving airship transport industry utilising lighter than air principles and thaumaturgy, but now a new, purely mechanistic innovation is ready to make major waves. The Prime Minister personally favours a railway service but faces dogged opposition from everywhere on almost every aspect of the iron monstrosity.

In the wilds south of the city, Engineer Ernst, his assistant Frankie and their dedicated crew have their own problems: everything from the shape of the wheels – or if there should even BE wheels! – to the metal in the tracks gouging up the countryside. The labour force are also acting up: lazy, greedily and stubbornly refusing to dig where they’re told for what they’re paid. That last objection might have some serious metaphysics backing it up however, since the regions around Ismyre are still decidedly subject to magical forces and adjacent – if not actually home – to supernatural forces that don’t like being disturbed…

With wizards, workers, gardeners, farmers, educators, naturalists, eco-terrorists and even the nuns of the Sisters of Our Lady Who Slumbers Under the Earth all opposed to the scheme, it’s no surprise the city streets are packed with protesters marching and making a fuss. With reporters poised and hungry to criticise, lampoon and embarrass her, a riot breaks out during a poorly organised press conference, and the PM sends in heavy-handed police, triggering true trouble…

Already angry at the mismanaged economy, low wages and blatant corruption at the heart of government, the plebs are spoiling for a fight and in no mood to tolerate another wasteful public purse vanity project. They kick back hard against police suppression, prompting ordinary citizen-with-a past Faustine and her kids Bram and Lou to visit old friends at the nunnery at the heart of the resistance. Inevitably, all are drawn into plans for a mass protest march that – thanks to another overreaction and “kettling” by security forces – results in terror and tragedy…

… And south of the city, the engineers and overseers finally push the navvies too far and rouse something old, powerful, much worshipped and extremely annoyed…

To Be Continued…

Floridly rendered in pencils and watercolour washes and presaged by a handy chart of ‘The Players’ Disciples of the Soil is an anthropomorphic treasure, set in a luscious, compellingly realised world of wonder. The word “tapestry” is one much overused but really fits the gradual unpicking of layers comprising this imagined history: beautiful images and strands cleverly woven together in small self-contained stories unfolding wherever you start from, yet all part of a greater whole, and promising more and clearer revelations ahead. You must read all these books but (so far) it really doesn’t matter where you start from. So it might as well be here, right?
© B. Mure 2024. All rights reserved.

Disciples of the Soil will be released on July 9th 2024 and is available for pre-order now.

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Captain America Epic Collection volume 5: The Secret Empire 1973-1974


By Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Roy Thomas, Tony Isabella, Sal Buscema, Alan Weiss, John Byrne, Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin, John Verpoorten, Frank Giacoia, John Tartaglione, George Roussos & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-4873-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

Please be aware this review concerns material with Discriminatory Content.

Created by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby in an era of ferocious patriotic fervour and carefully-manipulated idealism, Captain America was a dynamic and exceedingly bombastic response to the horrors of Nazism and the threat of Liberty’s loss.

He quickly lost focus and popularity once hostilities ceased: fading away as post-war reconstruction began. He briefly reappeared after the Korean War: a harder, darker sentinel ferreting out monsters, subversives and the “commies” who lurked under every American bed. Then he vanished once more until the burgeoning Marvel Age resurrected him just in time to experience the Land of the Free’s most turbulent and culturally divisive era: one where the Star-Spangled Avenger was in danger of becoming an uncomfortable symbol of a troubled, divided society, split along age lines and with many of the hero’s fans apparently rooting for the wrong side. Now into that turbulent mix crept issues of racial and gender inequality…

This resoundingly resolute full-colour Epic Collection re-presents Captain America and the Falcon #160-179 (spanning cover-dates April 1973 to December 1974) with the former patriotic symbol and full-time crimefighting partner The Falcon (Harlem-based social worker and combat acrobat Sam Wilson) confronting truly troubled times head on. The once convinced and confirmed Sentinel of Liberty was becoming a lost symbol of a divided nation, uncomfortable in his red, white & blue skin and looking to carve himself a new place in the Land of the Free. Sadly, calamitous events were about to put paid to that particular American dream…

Into an already turbulent mix of racial and gender inequality played out against standard Fights ‘n’ Tights villainy came creeping overtones of corruption and betrayal of ideals that were fuelled by shocking real-world events.

Following an informative behind-the-scenes reminiscence the drama begins courtesy of scripter Steve and artists Sal Buscema & Frank McLaughlin as ‘Enter: Solarr!’ offers an old-fashioned clash with a super-powered maniac as the main attraction. However, the real meat is the start of twin sub-plots that would shape the next half-dozen adventures, as the Star-Spangled Avenger’s newfound super-strength increasingly makes his proud partner-in-crimefighting feel like a junior and inferior hindrance, even as Steve Rogers’ long-time romantic interest Sharon Carter leaves him without a word of explanation…

Inked by John Verpoorten, CA&F #161 ramps up the tension between Steve and Sam as they search for Sharon in ‘…If he Loseth His Soul!’, and finds a connection to the girl Cap loved and lost in WWII as part of a deadly psycho-drama overseen by criminal shrink Dr. Faustus. It culminates one month later in a singular lesson in extreme therapy proving ‘This Way Lies Madness!’

CA&F #162’s ‘Beware of Serpents!’ heralded the return of super snakes Viper and Eel, who combine with The Cobra to form a vicious but ultimately unsuccessful Serpent Squad to attack the heroes. Humiliatingly defeated, former ad-exec Jordan Dixon/Viper vengefully begins a media manipulation campaign to destroy the Sentinel of Liberty with the “Big Lie”, weaponised fake news and the worst tactics of Madison Avenue. Although the instigator quickly falls, his scheme rumbles on with slow, inexorable and dire consequences…

Issue #164 offers a stunningly scary episode illustrated by Alan Lee Weiss, introducing faux-coquette mad scientist Deadly Nightshade: a ‘Queen of the Werewolves!’ who infects Sam with her chemical lycanthropy as an audition to enlist in the fearsome forces of one of the planet’s greatest menaces…

The full horror of the situation is only revealed when ‘The Yellow Claw Strikes’ (Englehart, Buscema & McLaughlin); renewing a campaign of terror begun in the 1950s, but this time attacking his former Chinese Communist sponsors and the USA indiscriminately. Giant bugs, deadly slave assassins and reanimated mummies are bad enough, but when the Arcane Immortal’s formidable mind-control dupes Cap into almost beating S.H.I.E.L.D. supremo Nick Fury to death on the ‘Night of the Lurking Dead!’, the blistering final battle results in further tragedy when an old ally perishes in the Frank Giacoia inked ‘Ashes to Ashes’…

A pause for thought: these days we comics apologists keep saying “it was a different era”, but to ignore history is to inevitably repeat it. Even before Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward/Sax Rohmer’s ultimate embodiment of mistrust and suspicion was created, fiction has used racism as a tool for sales. However, it really took off with 1913’s The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu delivering a prime archetype for mad scientists and the remorseless “Yellow Peril” which threatened (white colonial) civilization.

The character spread to stage, screen, airwaves and comics (even appropriating the cover of Detective Comics #1, heralding an interior series that ran until #28), but most importantly, the concept became a visual affirmation and conceptual basis for countless evil “Asiatics”, “Orientals” and “Celestials” who dominated popular fiction for most of the 20th century.

Like most mass entertainment forms comics companies like Marvel employed many “Yellow Peril” knock-offs and personifications (especially after China became communist after WWII) including Wong Chu; Plan Tzu AKA the Yellow – latterly Golden – Claw; Huang Zhu; Silver Samurai; Doctor Sun, the second Viper, ad infinitum: all birds of another colour that are nastily pejorative shades of saffron. These stories, crafted by Marvel’s employees were – and remain – some of the best action comics you’ll ever encounter, but never forget what they’re actually about: distrust of the obviously other; and that needs to be foremost in young minds when reading these old stories.

Comics – Marvel foremost – has sought to sensitively address issues of race and honestly attempt to share non-Christian philosophies and thought in later years. Moreover and most importantly, they were among the first to offer potently powerful role models to kids of Asian origins, and acknowledged these past iniquities.

One of the Star-Spangled Avenger’s most durable foes sort-of resurfaces in tense, action-heavy romp ‘…And a Phoenix Shall Arise!’. Scripted by Roy Thomas & Tony Isabella with inks by John Tartaglione & George Roussos, the simple throwaway yarn has taken on major significance as the soft return of one of Marvel’s most significant villains.

With additional scripting from Mike Friedrich, Englehart’s major storyline resumes as the Viper’s long-laid plans start finally bearing bitter fruit in #169’s ‘When a Legend Dies!’. With anti-Captain America TV spots making people doubt the honesty and sanity of the nation’s greatest hero, Sam and his “Black Power” activist girlfriend Leila Taylor depart for African nation Wakanda to technologically boost The Falcon’s abilities, leaving Cap to battle third-rate villain The Tumbler. In the heat of combat the Avenger seemingly goes too far and the thug dies…

‘J’Accuse!’ (Englehart, Friedrich, Buscema & Vince Colletta) reveals Cap beaten and arrested by too-good-to-be-true neophyte crusader Moonstone, whilst in Africa Leila is kidnapped by exiled Harlem hood Stone-Face, far from home and hungry for some familiar foxy ghetto-style “companionship”…

CA&F #171’s ‘Bust-Out!’ finds Cap forcibly sprung from jail by a mysterious pack of “supporters” as The Black Panther and the newly high-flying Falcon crush Stone-Face prior to a quick dash back to the USA and a reunion with its beleaguered and tarnished American icon. ‘Believe it or Not: The Banshee!’ opens with Captain America and the Falcon beaten by – but narrowly escaping – Moonstone and his obscurely occluded masters, after which the hard-luck heroes trace a lead to Nashville, only to encounter the fugitive mutant Master of Sound and stumble into a clandestine pogrom on American soil.

For many months mutants have been disappearing unnoticed, but now the last remaining X-Men – (Cyclops, Marvel Girl and Charles Xavier – have tracked them down, only to discover Captain America’s problems also stem from ‘The Sins of the Secret Empire!’ whose ultimate goal is the conquest of the nation. Eluding capture by S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve and Sam infiltrate the evil Empire, only to be exposed and confined in ‘It’s Always Darkest!’ before abruptly turning the tables and saving the day in #175’s ‘…Before the Dawn!’, wherein a vile grand plan is revealed, the mutants liberated and the culprits captured.

In a (still) shocking final scene, the ultimate instigator is unmasked and horrifically dispatched within the White House itself…

At this time America was a nation reeling from loss of unity, solidarity and perspective as a result of a torrent of shattering blows such as losing the Vietnam war, political scandals like Watergate and the (partial) exposure of President Nixon’s lies and crimes.

The general decline of idealism and painful public revelations that politicians are generally unpleasant – even possibly ruthless, wicked exploiters – kicked the props out of most citizens who had an incomprehensibly rosy view of their leaders. Thus, a conspiracy that reached into the halls and backrooms of government was extremely controversial yet oddly attractive in those distant, simpler days…

Unable to process the betrayal of all he has held dear, the Star-Spangled Avenger cannot accept this battle has any winner: a feeling that will change his life forever.

Following an attempt by sections of the elected government to undemocratically seize control by deceit and criminal conspiracy (sounds like sheer fantasy these days, doesn’t it?) Captain America can no longer be associated with a tarnished ideal and #176 sees shocked, stunned Steve Rogers search his soul and realise he also cannot be the symbol of such a country. Despite anxious arguments and advice of his Avenging allies Steve decides ‘Captain America Must Die!’ (Englehart, Buscema & Colletta).

Unable to convince him otherwise, staunch ally Sam carries on alone, tackling in the following issue a body-snatching old X-Men foe in ‘Lucifer Be Thy Name’ before wrapping up the threat in ‘If the Falcon Should Fall…!’

Steve meanwhile settles into uncomfortable retirement, as a number of painfully unqualified amateurs try to fill the crimson boots of Captain America – with dire results. Captain America and the Falcon #179 sees unsettled civilian Rogers hunted by a mysterious Golden Archer whose ‘Slings and Arrows!’ convince the ex-hero that even if he can’t be a Star-spangled sentinel of liberty, neither can he abandon the role of do-gooder: leading to a life-changing decision… as you will see in the next volume…

Bonus material in this tome includes John Romita’s cover art for F.O.O.M. #8 (December 1974 and an all Cap special). It precedes the finished 2-tone piece and articles by Roger Stern – ‘Well Come On, All You Big Strong Men…’, ‘Manchild in a Troubled Land’, ‘He Was Only Waiting For This Moment to Rise…’, photo feature ‘Star of the Silver Screen’ and tribute ‘Joe Simon and Jack Kirby – By Their Works Shall Ye Know Them’. The package ends with a back cover from young John Byrne, who also provided the majority of illustrations accompanying the features. One last treat is a preliminary page of pencils by Weiss from CA&F #164.

Any retrospective or historical re-reading is going to turn up some cringe-worthy moments, but these tales of matchless courage and indomitable heroism are fast-paced, action-packed and still carry a knockout conceptual punch. Here Captain America was finally discovering his proper place in a new era and would once more become unmissable, controversial comicbook reading, as we shall see when I get around to reviewing the next volume…
© 2023 MARVEL.

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John Constantine, Hellblazer volume 1: Original Sins


By Jamie Delano, Rick Veitch, John Ridgway, Alfredo Alcala, Tom Mandrake, Brett Ewins, Jim McCarthy & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3006-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Originally created by Alan Moore during his groundbreaking run on Swamp Thing, mercurial modern wizard John Constantine is a dissolute chancer who plays with magic like an addict but on his own terms for his own ends. He is not a hero. He is not a nice person. Sometimes though, he’s all there is between us and the void…

Given his own series by popular demand, Constantine premiered at the height of Thatcherite Barbarism in Britain, during the dying days of Reaganite Atrocity in the US, to become a founding father of DC’s adult-oriented Vertigo imprint. Hard to imagine back then that we’d one day be looking back with any sense of fond nostalgia, but there you go…

This collection collects John Constantine, Hellblazer #1-9 plus crossover chapters from Swamp Thing #76-77; cumulatively spanning January – October 1988 at what was the beginning of a renaissance in comic book horror that continues to this day.

Back in 1987 Creative Arts and Liberal Sentiments were dirty words in many quarters and the readership of Vertigo was pretty easy to profile. British scripter Jamie Delano began the series with a relatively safe horror-comic plot about an escaped hunger demon, introducing us to Constantine’s unpleasant nature and odd acquaintances – such as Papa Midnite – in a tale of infernal possession and modern voodoo, but even then, discriminating fans were aware of a welcome anti-establishment political line and metaphorical underpinnings.

‘Hunger’ and ‘A Feast of Friends’ also established another vital fact. Anyone who got too close to John Constantine tended to end very badly, very quickly…

‘Going for It’ successfully equated Conservative Britain with Hell (no change there either, obviously), with demons trading souls on their own stock market and Yuppies getting ahead in the rat race by selling short. Set on Election Day 1987, this potent pastiche never loses sight of its goal to entertain, whilst making telling points about humanity, individuality and society.

Constantine’s cousin Gemma and tantalising splinters of his Liverpool childhood are revealed in ‘Waiting for the Man’: a tale of abduction and ghosts introducing disturbing Christian fundamentalists The Resurrection Crusade, and a mysterious woman known only as Zed.

America is once again the focus of terror in ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’ as the Vietnam war breaks out again in rural Iowa, before we pop back to Blighty for ‘Extreme Prejudice’.

Skinheads, racism demons and more abound as Delano cannily joins up lots of previously unconnected dots to reveal a giant storyline in the making. The Damnation Army are up to something, but nobody knows who they are. Now everything’s going bad and somehow Zed and the Resurrection Crusade are at the heart of it all…

Brett Ewins & Jim McCarthy briefly replaced magnificent regular illustrator John Ridgway for the first 3 pages of ‘Ghost in the Machine’, before the beautifully restrained, poignantly humanistic stylism returns with Constantine further unravelling the Damnation plot by catching up with the Coming Thing: the cutting edge mysticism dubbed cyber-shamanism.

In Delano’s world the edges between science and magic aren’t blurred – they simply don’t exist…

Alfredo Alcala signs on as inker with ‘Intensive Care’ and the drama ramps up to a full gallop as the plans of both Crusade and Army are revealed, with the value and purpose of Zed finally exposed. All Constantine can do in response is make the first of many bad bargains with Hell…

We then take a stranger turn due to the nature of periodical publishing. The storyline in Hellblazer #1-8 ran contiguously, before converging with Swamp Thing wherein the wizard reluctantly lends his physical body to the planetary plant elemental so that the monster can impregnate its human girlfriend Abigail Arcane. Thus, in the ninth issue, there’s a kind of dissolute holding pattern in play as the weary wizard confronts ghosts of all the people he’s gotten killed to allow all the pieces to be suitably arranged. ‘Shot to Hell’ (Delano, Ridgway & Alcala) then neatly segues into Swamp Thing #76-77 for the conception of a new messiah. Sort of.

Immediately post-Alan Moore, Swamp Thing comics were sidelined by many fans. However they soon realised successor (writer-artist) Rick Veitch – aided by moody inker Alcala – was producing a stunning sequence of mini-classics well worthy of serious scrutiny. The issues built on Moore’s cerebral, visceral writing as the world’s plant elemental became increasingly involved with ecological matters.

Having decided to “retire”, Swamp Thing (an anthropomorphic plant imprinted with the personality and mind of murdered biologist Alec Holland) was charged by his ephemeral overlords in “The Green” with facilitating the creation of his/its successor. However, the ancient and agonising process was contaminated by consecutive failures and false starts, leading to a horrendous series of abortive creatures and a potentially catastrophic Synchronicity Maelstrom.

Alec, “wife” Abigail and chillingly charismatic Constantine are eventually compelled to combine forces – and some body-fluids – in ‘L’Adoration de la Terre’ (ST #76, by Veitch & Alcala) – to conceive a solution before the resultant chaos-storm destroys the Earth.

The process is not with risk – or embarrassment – but the affair is brought to a successful conclusion in ‘Infernal Tringles’ (Swamp Thing #77, Tom Mandrake pencilling) and with terrestrial order restored, the participants go their separate ways… but events have affected them all in ways that will have terrible repercussions in months and years to come…

Rounding out this so-sophisticated spook-fest is an original covers gallery by Dave McKean and John Totleben, plus an in-world exposé of Constantine in ‘Faces on the Street’ by faux journalist Satchmo Hawkins. Also included are other relics of the antihero’s sordid past such as the lyrics from Venus of the hardsell – a single from John’s aberrant punk band mucous membrane – and extracts from the magician’s medical file whilst he was held in Ravenscar Secure Psychiatric Facility…

Delivered by creators capable and satiric, but still wedded to the basic tenets of their craft, these superb examples of horror fiction – inextricably linking politics, religion, human nature and sheer bloody-mindedness as the root cause of all ills – are still powerfully engaging. Lovingly constructed, they make a truly abominable character seem an admirable force for our survival. The art is clear, understated and subtly subversive while the slyly witty, innovative stories jangle at the subconscious with scratchy edginess.

This is a book no fear-fan should be without.
© 1987, 1988, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Plutocracy: Chronicles of a Global Monopoly


By Abraham Martínez, translated by Montana Kane (NBM)
ISBN: 978-1-68112-268-7 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-68112-269-4

With ballots flying everywhere and almost everyone frantically keeping their plebiscite-riddled heads down, I thought it might be worthwhile to look at another splendid graphic argument for sticking your baffled, beleaguered bonces over those figurative – or, if you’re in France, literal – parapets and getting involved.

Do you want to read something that is really scary?

Who doesn’t love a good cathartic chiller, but every one of us also has a point where it stops being safe entertainment and becomes instead disturbing, unsettling and in fact extremely unwelcome. For me – and Spanish author Abraham Martínez – it’s clearly the terrifying prospect envisioned in his 2017 graphic novel translated by those fine folk at NBM.

Of course, the concept of a corporate superstate is not new, but I’ve never seen it better thought out or more crushingly realised down to the finest penny-pinching detail than here – and I’ve been reading Judge Dredd since 1977…

Rendered in drear industrial tones (mostly neutral greens and basic blues) and shapes cunningly reminiscent of bog-standard informational stencil forms in a devastatingly underplayed agitprop manner, Plutocracy follows one insignificant drone through a corporate landscape as he breaks free and begins digging for answers in a world where profit is everything.

After years of closer and closer ties between big business and national governments, in 2051 the last corporations swallowed each other to emerge as one all-encompassing unit – “The Company”: an entity that simply bought out nationhood and established a system to cost-effectively run the world. Everybody worked for, were paid by and consumed goods and services from the same entity: a perfect perpetual motion machine for society.

… They even managed to remain plausibly democratic, although there was only ever one party or candidate to vote for on any occasion. A little bit like now in so many places…

Detective Homero Durant grew bored when the majority of police work became desk-based investigations involving fraud and deception. With precious little to do, he took some career sidesteps and eventually became a writer.

Growing increasingly interested in how the world reached its present state, he applies to write a book about it, and is astounded to discover, instead of closed ranks and obfuscation, the powers that be welcome his project. The Company provides every possible access, even to personal interviews with the far-sighted mogul who had single-handedly engineered the death of nations and triumph of the Plutocracy…

As the deeply suspicious investigator plunges on, meeting nothing but cooperation at every step, his resolve starts to falter, but his tell-all exposé has taken on a life of its own, and nothing can stop it becoming the biggest sensation in The Company’s past history… or projected profit forecasts…

Dark, bleak and brimming with mordant satire, this trenchant tale is an ideal metaphor and warning for our times and one no contemplative rational consumer can afford to miss.
© Text & illustrations Abraham Martínez 2017. © Bang. ediciones, 2017. © 2020 NBM for the English translation.