Category: Graphic Novels

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


By Roy Thomas, Steve Gerber, Don McGregor, Gerry Conway, Mike Friedrich, Doug Moench, Gil Kane, Pablo Marcos, Ross Andru, Paul Gulacy, P. Craig Russell, Tom Sutton, Rich Buckler, Luiz Dominguez, Virgil Redondo, Mike Vosburg, Frank Robbins & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2835-3 (TPB/Digital edition)

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

This century’s transition of Marvel’s print canon to every size of screen seems unstoppable and with their pioneering horror hero/villain now a film presence, the company released a wave of collections to support the release. The most comprehensive and contextually crucial are the Epic Collections revisiting his life in more or less chronological order.

This initial titanic tome re-presenting Amazing Spider-Man #101-102; Marvel Team-Up #3-4; Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1; (Adventure into) Fear #20-26; Giant-Size Werewolf by Night #4, and pertinent material from Vampire Tales #1-8, cumulatively comprising cover-dates October 1971 to April 1975. It traces the science-spawned nosferatu through debut, guest villain shots and ultimately to his time in the spotlight as a confirmed horror hero…

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

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

Amongst the many things banned by the Comics Code Authority in 1954 were horror staples zombies, werewolves and vampires, but changing tastes and spiralling costs of the era were seeing superhero titles dropping like flies in a blizzard.

With interest in suspense and the supernatural growing globally , all publishers pushed for a return to scary comics, and the covert introduction of a “Living Vampire” in superhero staple Spider-Man led to another challenge to the CCA, the eventually revision of the Code’s horror section and a resurgent rise of supernatural heroes and titles.

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

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

Gerry Conway assumed the writer’s role for the third appearance of the living (not dead; never ever undead but “Living”, okay?), breathing humanoid predator who drank blood to live, in Marvel Team-Up #3 (July 1972). Illustrated by Ross Andru & Giacoia) it saw Spidey and Human Torch Johnny Storm hunting a resurgent Morbius after he attacks student Jefferson Bolt and somehow passes on his plague of thirst.

The conflicted scientist still seeks a cure and tracks old colleague Hans Jorgenson to Parker’s college, but his now-vampiric servant Bolt wants just what all true bloodsuckers want in ‘The Power to Purge!’…

The horror was still acting the villain in MTU #4, as the Torch was replaced by most of Marvel’s sole mutant team (The Beast having gone all hairy – and solo – in another science-based workaround to publish comic book monsters who were anything but supernatural) in ‘And Then… the X-Men!’

This enthralling thriller was magnificently illustrated by Kane at the top of his game and inked by Steve Mitchell, with the webslinger and X-Men at odds while both hunting the missing Jorgenson. After the unavoidable butting of heads, the heroes united to overcome Morbius and left him for Professor Charles Xavier to contain or cure…

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

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

As the superhero decline continued and horror bloomed, Morbius found refuge in Marvel’s black-&-white magazines. Designated mature material, these titles skated around Comics Code rules, offering adult scenes and themes and an early home for numerous horror stars, barbarians like Conan and Kull, as well as more sophisticated superhero fare for The Punisher, Mockingbird, Moon Knight and others.

Vampire Tales #1 launched in August 1973 with ‘Morbius’ as lead feature. Following the painted cover by Esteban Maroto, contents page and vintage vamp movie still, a moody monochrome shocker by Steve Gerber & Pablo Marcos details the bloodsucker’s relocation to Los Angeles and immersion in its wild night life scene as he searches for former lover Martine… Instead he became entangled with sinister swinger Carolyn: a satanic cultist looking for recruits …and victims…

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

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

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

The saga then shifts to (Adventure into) Fear #20 (cover-dated February 1973). The title had previously hosted the macabre Man-Thing, and his/its promotion to a solo title gave Morbius opportunity to spread his own (glider) wings. Spawned by scripter Mike Friedrich and artists Paul Gulacy, Jack Abel & George Roussos, ‘Morbius the Living Vampire!’ revealed how the bloodsucker escaped X-Men captivity before moving to Los Angeles to live (whenever possible) off victims who deserved his voracious bite.

The initial tale also set up a bizarre relationship with Rabbi Krause and Reverend Daemond who sought to cure him, before one was exposed as a human devil, catapulting Morbius into intergalactic conflict that had shaped humanity over millennia.

That began in Fear #21 as ‘Project: Second Genesis!’ – by Gerber, Kane & Vince Colletta – sees Morbius ordered to consume a most remarkable little girl by Daemond. Despite his best intentions and all his moral compunctions, the vampire succumbs to temptation and attacks the child Tara only to face her super-powered future-self.

He is then reluctantly recruited by a cult of alien technologists who claim to have shepherded homo sapiens from barbarism to civilisation. These “Caretakers” are trying to create a race of supermen but are losing a secret war with Daemon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We now travel back to October 1973 for a run of Vampire Tales appearances starting with #2 and ‘The Blood Sacrifice of Amanda Saint!’ with Don McGregor, Buckler & Marcos revealing how a potential snack becomes an unlikely and enduring ally after devil cult Demon-Fire targets her.

Forced into the role of rescuer and defender, Morbius endures mystery, monsters, the torture of a toxic family and his own taste of American Gothic as he unceasingly defends Amanda whilst tearing apart a mystic secret society entwined around a culture in decline and modern American mythology.

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

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

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

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

That’s for the next volume however, whilst here we enjoy a crossover clash from April 1975’s Giant-Size Werewolf by Night #4 which brings the story portion of this pulse-pounding package to a close with a long-delayed and anticipated clash with fellow hostage to macabre fortune Jack Russell.

Cursed with uncontrolled lycanthropy under a full moon, and also a California kid, he endured ‘A Meeting of Blood’ (by Moench & Virgil Redondo) after the mutated biologist tracks Martine following Daemond’s destruction and discovers a possible cure for his own exsanguinary condition.

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

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

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

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

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Batman in the Fifties


By Bill Finger, Don Cameron, Edmond Hamilton, France Herron, David Vern Reed, Dave Wood, Joe Samachson, Sheldon Moldoff, Dick Sprang, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Bob Kane, Win Mortimer, Charles Paris, Stan Kaye, George Roussos, Ray Burnley & various (DDC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-7795-0950-5 (TPB/Digital edition)

In the early years of this century, DC launched a series of graphic archives intended to define DC’s top heroes through the decades: delivering magnificent past comic book magic from the Forties to the Seventies via a tantalisingly nostalgic taste of other – arguably better, but certainly different – times. The collections carried the cream of the creative crop, divided into subsections, partitioned by cover galleries, and supplemented by short commentaries; a thoroughly enjoyable introductory reading experience. I prayed for more but was frustrated… until now…

Part of a trade paperback trilogy – the others being Superman and Wonder Woman (thus far, but hopefully Aquaman, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter are in contention too, as they have become such big shot screen stars these days) – the experiment is being re-run, with even more inviting wonders from the company’s amazing family-friendly canon.

Gathered here is an expanded menu of delights adding to that of the 2002 edition, rerunning Michael Uslan’s original context-stuffed Introduction and chapter text pieces. The stories originated in Detective Comics #156, 165, 168, 180, 185, 187, 215, 216, 233, 235, 236, 241, 244, 252, 267; 269, 1000; Batman #59, 62, 63, 81,92,105, 113, 114, 121, 122, 128; and World’s Finest Comics #68, 81, 89 which span the entire decade while laying the rather bonkers groundwork for the landmark television series of the next decade.

Supported by the first of a series of factual briefings, the comics open with Classic Tales, and ‘The Batmobile of 1950!’ Written by Joe Samachson and illustrated by visionary artist Dick Sprang and ideal inker Stan Kaye, the clever saga of reinvention originated in Detective Comics #156 (cover-dated February 1950 and on sale from December 19th 1949):  heralding new vistas as their reliable conveyance is destroyed by cunning crooks.

Badly injured, Batman uses the opportunity to rebuild his ride as moving fortress and crime lab and scores his first techno advance. There would soon be many more: a Batplane II, new boats and subs and even a flying Batcave…

David Vern Reed, Sprang & Charles Paris then set the Crime Crushers to recovering a vital lost tool assemblage before some villain could decipher ‘The Secret of Batman’s Utility Belt!’ (Detective #185 July 1952) and end their careers, after which ‘The True History of Superman and Batman’ (World’s Finest Comics #81, March/April 1956 by Edmond Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye) finds a future historian blackmailing the heroes into restaging their greatest exploits so that his erroneous treatise on them will be accurate…

Foreshadowing modern tastes and tropes, an unknown author & Sheldon Moldoff reveal ‘The New-Model Batman’ in Detective #236 (October 1956) as recently-released criminal genius Wallace Waley deploys counters to all the heroes’ techniques and tech, necessitating a change of M.O and new toys… like a Bat-tank…

In a classic case of misdirection, the Dark Knight briefly becomes ‘The Rainbow Batman!’ in Detective #241 (March 1957). As delivered by Hamilton, Moldoff & Kaye, a series of outlandish costumes keep the public – and reporters’ – gaze on the mighty masked peacock and well away from the biggest story of the decade…

Bill Finger, Moldoff & Paris detail a review of the hero’s most versatile weapon in ‘The 100 Batarangs of Batman!’ (Detective #244 June 1957) as criminals begin using old variants of the throwing tool against him and the Gotham gangbuster has to unleash an almost dangerous and untested prototype to defeat them…

In a most frustrating piece of poor editing, next up is the seminal sequel story to a most important and repercussion-packed yarn. Crafted by Hamilton, Sprang & Kaye, ‘The Club of Heroes’ first appeared in World’s Finest Comics #89 (July/August 1957) reprising an earlier meeting of Batmen from many nations. It became a key plank of Grant Morrison’s latterday epic Batman: the Black Glove as those valiant foreign copycats reconvened to add the Man of Steel to their roster only to find him suffering recurring amnesia and outshone by brand-new costumed champion Lightning Man…

‘The Thousand Deaths of Batman!’ (Detective #269 July 1959) comes from another uncredited scripter, with Moldoff & Paris limning a bizarre tale of a criminal entertainment network offering staged deaths of their greatest enemies until the Caped Crusaders infiltrate and exterminate…

Just as the adventures always got bigger and bolder, so too did the character roster and internal history. The Bat-Family section homes in on the heroes’ constantly expanding supporting cast, and leads with something I just finished whining about.

Detective Comics #215 (January 1955) featured ‘The Batmen of All Nations!’ by Edmond Hamilton, Moldoff & Paris) and saw the World’s Greatest Crimefighters acknowledged as such by well-meaning champions from Italy, England, France, South America and Australia, who took the sincerest form of flattery a step too far by becoming nationally-themed imitations. That was fine until they all attend a convention in Gotham City doomed to disaster after a villain replaces one of them…

Why on Earth did this tale have to follow its own sequel?

Anyway, back to our usual nonsense and a question: Do you believe in coincidence? Superman was incredibly popular throughout the 1950s and many things that happened to him were tried in Batman stories. For a while the caped crusader even had a girl reporter – Vicki Vale – trying to ferret out hi secret identity. So when Adventure Comics #210 (March 1955) introduced a dog from Krypton, how surprising was it that Batman would soon join that rather exclusive kennel club?

For no reason I could possibly speculate upon, ‘Ace the Bat-Hound!’ debuted in Batman #92 (June 1955), created by Bill Finger, Sheldon Moldoff & Charles Paris. Ace was a distinctive German shepherd temporally adopted by Bruce Wayne when his actual owner John Wilker is abducted by crooks. A skilled tracker with distinctive facial markings, the pooch inserts himself into the case repeatedly, forcing the Dynamic Duo to mask him up as they hunt his master and foil a criminal plot. Like Krypto, Ace reappeared intermittently until Wayne stopped borrowing him and just adopted the amazing mutt.

Almost as necessary a Fifties adjunct, ‘The Batwoman!’ debuted in Detective #233 (July 1956) as Hamilton, Moldoff & Kaye added a female copy to the cannon…

Today fans are pretty used to a vast battalion of bat-themed champions haunting Gotham City and its troubled environs, but for the longest time it was just Bruce, Dick Grayson and an occasionally borrowed dog keeping crime on the run. However, three months before the debut of the Flash officially ushered in the Silver Age, editorial powers-that-be introduced valiant heiress Kathy Kane, who incessantly suited-up in chiropteran red and yellow over the next eight years. She was a former circus acrobat who burst into Batman’s life, challenging him to discover her secret identity at the risk of exposing his own…

Far more critical to the growing legend was Finger, Moldoff & Kaye’s ‘The First Batman!’

as originally seen in Detective Comics #235 (September 1956): a key story of this period which introduced a strong psychological component to Batman’s origins, disclosing how when Bruce was still a toddler, his father had clashed with gangsters whilst clad in a fancy dress bat costume…

In Batman #105, (February 1957) France Herron, Moldoff & Paris introduced ‘The Second Boy Wonder!’ as a stranger apparently infiltrates the Batcave by impersonating the kid crimebuster, but there’s more going on than would first appear, unlike Batman #114 (March 1958) wherein unknown writer, Moldoff & Paris reveal how circus gorilla Mogo joins the team to clear his framed keeper’s name in ‘The Bat-Ape!’…

The grim gritty tone of the Dark Knight remains utterly absent in ‘The Marriage of Batman and Batwoman!’ (Batman #122, March 1959) as Finger, Moldoff & Ray Burnley manifest Robin’s bleakest nightmares should such a nuptial event ever occur, before Detective #267 (May 1959) details how ‘Batman Meets Bat-Mite!’ and Finger, Moldoff & Paris launch the Gotham Guardian’s most controversial “partner” – a pestiferous, extra-dimensional prank-playing elf who “helps” his hero by aiding his enemies to extend the duration of the fun… (World’s Finest Comics #68, January/February 1954).

In the 1950s costumed villains faded from view and preference for almost a decade – until the Batman TV show made them stars in their own right. Thus there’s not as big a pool to draw on here as you might expect, and what there is mostly the old favourites..

The Villains highlights our hero’s greatest recurring enemies, leading with The Secret Life of the Catwoman!’ from Batman #62 (December 1950/January 1951) by Finger, with Lew Sayre Schwartz ghosting for Bob Kane – who only pencilled a few faces and figures. It’s all inked by Paris.

Here the Felonious Feline reforms and retires after a head trauma cures all her larcenous tendencies… until Batman begs law-abiding Selina Kyle to suit up once more and go undercover to catch crime boss Mister X.

Kane had all but left his role to others by this time and his contributions remained minor in The Origin of Killer Moth!’ (Batman #62, February/March 1951) as Finger, Sayre Schwartz & Paris record how a recently-released convict steals Batman’s ideas and sets up as a paid costumed crusader for crooks…

Around that time Detective #168 (February 1951) began the long road to an origin for the Joker as Finger, Sayre Schwartz, Kane George Roussos and Win Mortimer exposed ‘The Man Behind the Red Hood!’ This reveals a partial origin as part of a brilliantly engrossing mystery which begins when the Caped Crusader regales eager college criminology students with the story of “the one who got away” – just before the fiend suddenly comes back…

Batman’s most tragic Golden Age foe resurfaced cured and fully functional in Detective #187 (September 1952), but Harvey Dent was soon on a spree committing ‘The Double Crimes of Two-Face!’ (by Don Cameron, Sprang & Paris). Although the Dynamic Duo knew from the start their foe was a fake, the situation was far different two years later when Reed, Sprang & Paris detailed how ‘Two-Face Strikes Again!’ in Batman #81 (February 1954). This time a freak accident restored Dent’s scarred bipolar state and the heroes were outmatched all the way to the stunning turnabout conclusion…

The bit about bad guys bows out with ‘The Ice Crimes of Mr. Zero’ (Batman #121, February 1959) as Dave Wood, Moldoff & Paris depict a scientist’s turn to crime after an experiment afflicts him with a condition that will kill him if his temperature rises above freezing point. Although cured in this yarn, that villain would return, taking the name Mr. Freeze …

Final comics section Tales from Beyond highlights the increasingly strange adventures of the Dynamic Duo which – due to Comics Code embargoes on horror and the supernatural – meant a wealth of weird alien and startling science fiction themes. The wonders beginswith a rarely reprinted yarn from Finger, Sayre Schwartz, Kane & Paris originally seen in Batman #59 (June/July 1950). It begins as the heroes seek to use time travel to cure The Joker, before a mistake by chronal scientist Professor Carter Nichols dumps them in 2050 AD. ‘Batman in the Future!’ finds them aiding the Harlequin of Hate’s crimefighting descendant against space pirates before returning to their own era…

A solid gold classic follows as ‘The Batman of Tomorrow!’ (Detective #216, February 1955) visits the 20th century – from his home in 3054 – to save an injured Bruce Wayne from Vicki Vale’s latest exposé and catch a cunning crook in a fast paced and fantastical romp by Hamilton, Sprang & Paris.

Many of these bright-&-breezy high fantasy tales deeply affected modern writers and the overarching continuity, perhaps none more so than Herron, Sprang & Paris’ ‘Batman – The Superman of Planet X!’ from Batman #113 (February 1958): which formed a key thematic plank of Grant Morrison’s epic 2008 storyline Batman R.I.P. The story details how the Gotham Guardian is shanghaied to distant world Zur-En-Arrh by its version of Batman to fight an alien invasion: a task rendered relatively simple since the planet’s atmosphere and gravity gives Earthmen incredible superpowers…

In Detective #252 (February 1958) Wood, Moldoff & Paris channelled contemporary film fashion as a monster makes trouble on a movie location shoot, compelling the costumed champions to tackle ‘The Creature from the Green Lagoon!’ before the last tale in this section – and volume – reveals how our heroes mistakenly aid an alien pirate and are arrested and imprisoned offworld by interstellar lawmen. ‘The Interplanetary Batman!’ (Batman #128. December 1959) is a riotous rollercoaster rocket ride by Finger & Moldoff with Batman and Robin overcoming all odds to clear their names and get home and is a perfect place to pause this circus of ancient delights.

Also including a selection of breathtaking covers and a ‘Bonus Cover Gallery’ by Sprang, Mortimer, Moldoff, Curt Swan, Sayre Schwartz, Kaye & Paris, this is a splendidly refreshing, comfortingly compelling and utterly charming slice of comics history that any aged fan or newcomer will delight in: a primer into the ultimate icon of Justice and fair play.
© 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 2002, 2019, 2021 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Captain Marvel volume 1: Nothing to Lose


By Peter David, ChrisCross, Ivan Reis, Paco Medina & various (Marvel Comics)
ISBN 978-0-7851-1104-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

Once upon a time, individuality was king and identity constantly – and litigiously – defended. These days, superhero comics are filled with spin-offs, legacies and alternates. Where once DC eradicated an entire multiverse to ensure readers would see there was only one Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman now there are dozens of iterations of every costumed character and fans couldn’t be happier.

However, there was always one title/character that bucked the trend…

One of the most venerated, beloved characters in American comics was created by Bill Parker & Charles Clarence Beck as part of the wave of opportunistic creativity following the successful launch of Superman in 1938. Although there were many similarities in the early years, the Fawcett Comics character moved swiftly and solidly into realms of light entertainment and even broad comedy, whilst throughout the 1940s the Man of Steel increasingly sidelined whimsy in favour of family-friendly action and drama.

Homeless orphan and thoroughly good kid Billy Batson was selected by an ancient wizard to battle injustice and subsequently granted the powers of six gods and mythical heroes. By speaking aloud the wizard’s name – an acronym for divine patrons Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury – he transformed from scrawny boy to brawny (adult) champion Captain Marvel.

At the height of his popularity, “the Big Red Cheese” was published twice monthly, hugely outselling Superman, and in 1941 DC/National Comics launched an infamous court case citing copyright infringement. However, as the decade progressed and tastes changed, sales slowed, and the case was settled just as many publishers started switching from costumed heroes to “Real Men” and monsters. Like many superheroes, Captain Marvel and his gods-powered kin disappeared, becoming a fond memory for older fans. A big syndication success, he was missed all over the world. In Britain, where an English reprint line had run for many years, creator/publisher Mick Anglo had an avid audience and no product, and so transformed the Captain and company into atomic age heroes Marvelman, Young Marvelman and Kid Marvelman continuing to thrill readers into the early 1960s, even if here there were no girls allowed.

Then, as America lived through another superhero boom-&-bust, the 1970s dawned with a shrinking industry and wide variety of comics genres servicing a base that was increasingly founded on collectors and fans rather than casual or impulse buyers. National/DC Comics needed sales and were prepared to look for them in unusual places.

After the court settlement with Fawcett in 1953 they had secured the rights to Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Junior, Mary Marvel and all the spin-off Family. Now, even though the name itself had been taken up by Marvel Comics (via a circuitous and quirky robotic character published by Carl Burgos and M.F. Publications in 1967), the publishing monolith decided to tap into that discriminating if aging fanbase.

In 1973, riding a wave of national nostalgia on TV and in movies, DC brought back the entire beloved Marvel crew in their own kinder, weirder universe. To circumvent the intellectual property clash, they named the new title Shazam! (…With One Magic Word!) – the trigger phrase used by myriad Marvels to transform to and from mortal form, and a word that had entered the American language due to the success of the franchise the first time around.

Meanwhile, at the other place…

In 1968, upstart Marvel was in the ascendant. Their sales were rapidly overtaking industry leaders National/DC and Gold Key Comics and, having secured a new distributor allowing them to expand their list of titles exponentially, the company was about to undertake a creative expansion of unparalleled proportions.

Once individual stars of “split-books” Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales were awarded their own titles, the House of Ideas just kept on going. In progress was a publishing plan seeking to take conceptual possession of the word “Marvel” through both reprint series such as Marvel Tales, Marvel Collector’s Items Classics and Marvel Super-Heroes. Eventually, showcase titles such as Marvel Premiere, Marvel Spotlight and Marvel Feature also proudly trumpeted the name, so another dead-cert idea was to have an actual hero named for the company – and preferably one with some ready-made cachet and pedigree as well.

After the infamous 1940s-1950s copyright case of the, the prestigious appellation Captain Marvel disappeared from newsstands. In 1967, during the “Camp” craze/superhero boom generated by the Batman TV series, publisher MLF produced a number of giant-sized comics featuring an intelligent robot able to divide his body into segments and shoot lasers from his eyes. Their legal right to have done so is still disputed…

Quirky, charming and devised by Carl Burgos (creator of the Golden Age Human Torch), the series failed to attract a large following in that flamboyantly flooded marketplace and on its demise the name was snapped up by Marvel Comics Group who properly secured rights to the name and have defended it ever since by publishing numerous characters who all seemed doomed to high quality runs and early cancelation…

In 1968, Marvel Super-Heroes was a brand new title: reconfigured from extended-length reprint vehicle Fantasy Masterpieces, which mixed vintage monster-mystery tales with Golden Age Timely Comics classics. With the 12th issue it added a try-out section for characters without homes. These included the Inhuman Medusa, Ka-Zar, Black Knight and Doctor Doom, plus new concepts Guardians of the Galaxy and Phantom Eagle, in all-new stories.

They kicked off with an alien spy sent to Earth from the Kree Galaxy. He held a Captain’s rank and his name was Mar-Vell. After two appearances, Captain Marvel catapulted straight into his own title for a rather hit-and-miss career combatting spies, aliens and costumed cut-ups like Sub-Mariner, Mad Thinker and Iron Man. Most frequently, however, he clashed with elements of his own rapaciously colonialist race – such as imperial investigative powerhouse Ronan the Accuser – all while slowly switching allegiances from the militaristic Kree to the noble, freedom-loving denizens of Earth.

This particular incarnation of the “trademark-that-must-not-die” features the son of that Kree warrior and long-time company supporting character/professional sidekick Rick Jones in a symbiotic relationship echoing the heyday of Mar-Vell’s flower-power glory days. Fair warning though, despite the excellent writing and great art, if you are not at least passingly familiar with Marvel’s close continuity, this is not a series of books you want to read without a little preparation.

Scripted by Peter David, with colours by Chris Sotomayor and letters from RS (Richard Starkings) & Comiccraft’s Albert!, Nothing to Lose collects Captain Marvel volume 2 #1-6 (cover-dates November 2002-April 2003, and I said it was confusing didn’t I?). It expands the saga of Genis, an artificially-matured test-tube baby son of Mar-Vell.

The Kree warrior turned Cosmic Protector saved Earth and Universe countless times before dying of cancer in the landmark Death of Captain Marvel (the company’s first official Graphic Novel), and here, after years trying to live up to and surpass his father’s achievements – he even debuted using the codename “Legacy” – the pressure starts to show.

Genis sought to emulate his father as a galaxy-spanning crusader, with mixed results, before hooking up with Rick Jones – his Dad’s original sidekick and, for a time, lifeline to reality. The human offered the promise of insider insights into what made him such a hero…

When Nothing to Lose opens with ‘Shards’ – illustrated by ChrisCross – he is, in fact, in just the same situation his father endured with the teen-aged Jones back in 1960’s. Their bodies are linked by “Nega-bands” – fantastically powerful alien wrist-bands which both wear, but only in turns, as they have the drawback of merging their molecular structure. This means only one body can inhabit the positive-matter universe at once, whilst the other is trapped in sub-atomic pocket-reality The Microverse. From there, the captive can observe and communicate, but not affect the “real” world.

The new Captain Marvel possesses his father’s greatest power, “Cosmic Awareness”: an ability to discern everything happening everywhere at once. Sadly, and inevitably, the gift is turning Genis into a raving madman. Just knowing something bad is happening doesn’t mean that the only solution you can offer is ultimately the right one for the universe. With so much to do, the captain has not allowed Rick to return to Earth for months…

This situation is tragically demonstrated when Marvel stops a suicide bomber from detonating on a crowded bus, only to see her murdered by one of her intended victims. His every action forces him to make immediate decisions and choose who to help for the greater good, but every choice seems to lead to unknowable cosmic consequences. This hopeless situation is repeated, magnified and drastically clarified after his intervention in an Badoon invasion and other missions.

As days pass Rick faces the fact that his partner’s omniscience and growing clairvoyance is more curse than blessing, and an increasing capriciousness is affecting Captain Marvel’s compulsion to “Do Good”. ‘Shock Absorber’ see Jones explore his options by going on an arduous pilgrimage and consulting (relatively) local god Shinga Doon, whilst the cosmic avenger starts taking advice and moral instruction from the Punisher…

In ‘Pamavision’ Genis joins the militaristic Kree’s colonial space fleet as they invade and colonise strategic world Toped: meeting the man who trained his father, embracing the bellicose expansionist culture and rising fast in the ranks. In the Microverse, Rick is unexpectedly joined by another truth-seeker just as his guru meets a sudden and mysterious death…

The Toped campaign goes badly wrong for the Kree in ‘Uriah’ (rendered by Ivan Reis) as the Captain uncovers sedition, ambition and espionage run wild, whilst Rick learns his fellow stranded acolyte – Epiphany – is far more than she seems. When war with the Shi’ar looms and romantic intrigue runs riot, Marvel’s solution is to kill everybody and then himself…

ChrisCross returns for ‘Au Pere’ as a truly brutal father & son moment in the great beyond leads to Genis discovering that both he and Rick have been manipulated by trans-cosmic siblings Epiphany and Entropy with a view to ousting the current supervisor of reality.

They have done their work well and deranged Genis eagerly anticipates battling the universe’s most powerful conceptual entities, killing Supreme Being Eternity and ending painful reality well before its due date…

Happily for all, Rick hasn’t given up hope in the spectacular and awe-inspiring Paco Medina-limned closing chapter ‘Four Characters in Search of Creation’…

This slim tome includes covers and variants by Alex Ross, CrissCross, Joe Jusko, Kia Asamiya, Phil Noto, JG Jones and Andy Kubert as well as an ‘Alex Ross Captain Marvel Concept Artwork’ feature, sharing his design process and thoughts on the character’s powerful reworking.

Wry, sardonic, explosively action-packed and sublimely provocative, Peter David’s blackly tongue-in-cheek examination of power and perspective has some truly chilling moments, and has a lot to say on the nature of heroism, all leavened by his absurdist sensibilities and love of comedy word-play. His take on duty and honour is wickedly engaging, with the sumptuous art carrying the sneaky double-dealing and savage conflicts with ease.
© 2021 MARVEL.

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JLA: Year One


By Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn & Barry Kitson with Michael Bair, John Stokes, Mark Propst, & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-512-8 (TPB)

If the chop-and-change continuity gymnastics DC have undergone in recent years gives you a headache, but you still love reading excellent superhero team stories, you could just take my word that this is one of the best of that breed and move on to the next review. If you’re okay with the confusion or still need convincing, though, please read on.

With then-partner All-American Publishing, in 1940 DC published the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics from #3. Cover-dated “Winter Issue”, it spanned the year end and was on sale from November 22nd until January. The JSA were the first superhero team in comics.

In 1960 after a decade largely devoid of superheroes, the now fully-amalgamated publisher sagely revived the team concept as the Justice League of America, and gradually reintroduced the JSA ancestors as heroes of an alternative Earth to a fresh new caped and cowled world. By 1985, the continuity had become saturated and overcrowded with so many heroic multiples and close duplicates that DC’s editorial Powers-That-Be deemed it all too confusing and a deterrent to new readers, and decreed total change. It resulted in maxi-series Crisis on Infinite Earths and the events of the groundbreaking, earth-shattering saga led to a winnowing and restructuring of the DC universe…

With all the best bits from past stories (for which one could read “least charming or daft”) having now occurred on one Earth, and with many major heroes remade and re-launched (Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash et al.), one of the newest curses to readers – and writers – was keeping definitive track of what was now DC “History” and what had now never actually happened.

Thus 12-issue maxi-series JLA: Year One presented the absolute, definitive, real story of the formation and early days of the Justice League, the World’s Greatest – but no longer first – Superheroes…

Of course, since Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis and all the other subsequent publishing course-correcting extravaganzas (such as 52, Countdown, Dark Nights: Death Metal and so on) it’s not strictly true anymore. Still. Again…

None of which impacts upon the superb quality of the tale told here. Way back then – January to December 1998 and in the wake of Grant Morrison & Howard Porter’s spectacular re-reboot of the team – Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn & illustrator Barry Kitson (plus assorted assisting inkers) produced a superb version of that iteration’s earliest days. It’s still one of the best and most readable variations on the theme, even if DC have inexplicably let it slide out of print…

It begins “ten years ago” in ‘Justice League of America: Year One’ as a hidden observer gathers files on an emergent generation of new costumed heroes. When an alien invasion from Appellax brings inexperienced neophyte heroes Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter together to save Earth from colonisation, the media scents a news sensation, but the real story is the hidden forces hovering in the background of the event…

The Canary was reimagined as the rebellious daughter of the JSA original who had been active during WWII, and the others, like the Sea King and J’onn J’onzz, had undergone recent origin revisions too…

The main action begins after that initial victory, as the heroes – novices all, remember – opt to stick together as a team, only to be targeted by secret super-science society Locus, who begin snatching up alien invader corpses for genetic experimentation…

The second issue sees the new kids as media sensations overwhelmed and out of their depth, with everyone wanting a piece of them. Older outfits like the Blackhawks, Challengers of the Unknown and even officially-retired JSA veterans are watching with apprehension whilst Bruce Wayne wants them far away from Gotham City as they establish their ‘Group Dynamic’. Even trick archer Green Arrow is constantly hanging around, clearly angling for an invitation to join, but that’s never gonna happen…

Immortal villain Vandal Savage targets the inexperienced heroes with a squad of veteran supervillains – the Thorn, Solomon Grundy, Clayface and Eclipso – as everywhere, more new superheroes are emerging. Savage is resolved to stop this second Heroic Age before it begins…

In #3, Locus’ bio advancements lead to alliance with Savage, but their schemes are sidelined as the team struggle to work together. Every man there seems distracted by Black Canary, but their “chivalrous impulses” in combat are not only insulting but will get someone killed – if not by enemies, then by her…

The team is fully occupied playing ‘Guess Who?’ after accepting funding and resources from a mystery billionaire. The influx of cash results in a purpose-built secret mountain HQ, a covert personal communications network, live-in custodian/valet/tech support Snapper Carr and a security system designed by maverick teen genius Ted Kord.

At least the heroes are starting to bond, sharing jokes, origins and trade secrets, but tensions are still high and trust in each other is fragile…

Inker Michael Bair joins with #4 as ‘While You Were Out…’ sees Locus at last launch their campaign of conquest: picking off lone hero Dan Garrett, whose mystic Blue Beetle scarab proves no match for alien-enhanced bio-weaponry, even as the heroes are all singled out for close observation by mystery operatives…

The merciless Brotherhood of Evil unleash Locus-designed horrors on Manchester, Alabama in #5, leading to a tenuous team-up of Justice League and Doom Patrol that ends in disaster and defeat. Maimed and deprived of their abilities, they are ‘A League Divided’ until the DP’s resident genius Niles Caulder provides stopgap powers and weapons in ‘Sum of Their Parts’ (inked by Bair & John Stokes), enabling the heroes to rally and restore themselves…

In ‘The American Way’ the JLA suffer a shock after their greatest inspiration – Superman – declines an offer to join, even as Locus’ endgame begins.

The dispirited heroes barely notice, as ‘Loose Ends’ exposes treachery in the ranks, further distracting the heroes who discover a trusted ally has been spying on them in their private lives. They have no idea what’s really going on…

With unity shattered, the JLA turns on itself, missing Locus’ attempt to terraform Earth and literally ‘Change the World’…

‘Heaven and Earth’ (inked by Bair & Mark Propst) finds all humanity’s helpless and all its many heroes subdued in a superpowered blitzkrieg that catches the planet napping. Crushed, defeated and interned in ‘Stalag Earth’ all hope is lost until the reunited Justice League lead a counter-offensive, turning tragedy into triumph and ensuring ‘Justice for All’…

A brilliantly addictive plot, superbly sharp dialogue and wonderfully underplayed art suck the reader into an enthralling climax that makes you proud to be human… or at least terrestrially-based. This saga of our champions’ bonding and feuding under extended threat of rogue geneticists, planetary upheaval, and the mystery of who actually bankrolls the team, all added to continual, usual, everyday threats in a superhero’s life, is both enchanting and gripping.

When it’s done right there’s nothing wrong with being made – and allowed – to be feel ten years old again. In-the-know fans will delight at the clever incorporation of classic comics moments, in-jokes and guest-shots from beloved contemporaneous heroes and villains such as the Sea Devils, Metal Men, Atom and such, but the creators of this revised history never forget their new audience and nothing here is unclear for first-timers. The finale is a fan’s all-action dream with every hero on Earth united to combat all-out alien invasion! …And of course, the rookie JLA save the day again in glorious style.
© 1998 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Marvel Graphic Novel vol 18: The Sensational She-Hulk


By John Byrne, Kim DeMulder, Petra Scotese, Janice Chiang & various (Marvel)
ISBN10: 0-87135-084-X (Album TPB/Digital edition)

A persistent story goes that in the faraway days when trademarks and copyrights were really, really important, comic publishers worried that rivals would be able to impinge on their sales an so produced distaff versions of their characters. Thus the House of Ideas launched Ms. Marvel, so that nobody else could.

Redundant bit player Carol Danvers was retooled as a superhero (now called Captain Marvel whilst Pakistani-American teen Kamala Khan has inherited her first codename). The Captain debuted in her own title (cover-dated January 1977) and was soon joined by rush-released Spider-Woman (in Marvel Spotlight #32 ,February 1977 – before securing her own title 15 months later) and She-Hulk. There was apparently a second and most specific reason…

At this time both the male Hulk and Spider-Man had successfully made the jump to live-action television, and the publishing powers were terrified because their licensing contracts had a potentially disastrous loophole: there was nothing to prevent those scurrilous TV types spinning off their own (sexy, televisual, not-owned-by-Marvel) characters, as had almost happened with Batgirl in the 1960s “Batmania” era…

To be fair, Marvel had been constantly seeking to expand their female character pool for years before intellectual property necessity forged a path for them. They found the right mix as the Seventies closed, and even added new concept stars at the right time. The music-biz-inspired and sponsored Dazzler premiered in February 1980’s Uncanny X-Men #130 – before getting her own title: the same month copyright-shielding Savage She-Hulk #1 came out…

Whereas that seems a bit convoluted and may be rather hard to believe, I must admit that the original 25-issue run of Bruce Banner’s tragedy-magnet cousin Jennifer Walters was by no means the company’s finest moment. Creators struggled for quite a while to get a handle on the Girly Green Goliath. After her series was cancelled, She-Hulk did the guest-star thing and served with distinction in both The Avengers and Fantastic Four, before John Byrne finally developed a suitably original niche and spin for her in the Marvel Universe.

Since then, constant experimentation and deft handling has made her one of Marvel’s most readable properties – and most entertaining screen stars – but that revolution all started with this thoroughly enjoyable, if clearly transitional tome…

At the time of its creation, the lady lawyer had replaced The Thing in the Fantastic Four and could change between her human and Gamma-enhanced forms at will, whilst retaining her intellect in both forms. All the fourth-world hi-jinks of her second comics series and television incarnation was yet to come…

Against the slow-building, horror-story backdrop of a sentient cockroach invasion and infiltration, the story involves the shady higher-ups who oversee high-tech espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. ordering the rendition of She-Hulk for unspecified “National Security” purposes. When tough but fair Nick Fury refuses to comply, the mission goes ahead without him, leading to a major battle in the streets of New York and the eventual capture of not only our heroine but also a large number of passers-by.

Trapped aboard the spooks’ flying helicarrier, She-Hulk is subjected to numerous indignities and abuses whilst her boyfriend Wyatt Wingfoot and the other civilians are treated as hostages for her good behaviour. Unfortunately, one of those ordinary mortals is a zombie vehicle for those cockroaches I mentioned earlier, and they want to drop the floating fortress on the city below as a declaration of war against humanity…

Inked by Kim DeMulder -with colours by Petra Scotese & lettering from Janice Chiang – Byrne’s writing and illustration deliver spectacular action, tinged with horror yarn overtones. The art deftly utilises the (European-style) expanded-page format of Marvel’s Original Graphic Novel line, and combines with sharp scripting to elevate an old plot to new heights. I personally find the coy prurience of some of the semi-nude scenes a little juvenile, but that’s not enough to spoil the fun in a what’s otherwise a highly effective disaster thriller: one which set the tone of She-Hulk adventures for years thereafter…
© 1985, 2018 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Warlock Marvel Masterworks volume 1


By Roy Thomas, Mike Friedrich, Gerry Conway, Ron Goulart, Tony Isabella, Gil Kane, Bob Brown, Herb Trimpe, John Buscema, Tom Sutton & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2411-5 (HB) 978-0-7851-8858-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

During the 1970s in America and Britain (the latter of which deemed newspaper cartoons and strips worthy of adult appreciation for centuries whilst fervently denying similar appreciation and potential for comics), the first inklings of wider public respect for the medium of graphic narratives began to blossom. This followed teen response to such pioneering series as Stan Lee & John Buscema’s biblically allegorical Silver Surfer and Roy Thomas’ ecologically strident antihero Sub-Mariner, a procession of thoughtfully-delivered attacks on drugs in many titles and constant use of positive racial role models everywhere on four-colour pages.

Comics were inexorably developing into a vibrant forum of debate (a situation also seen in Europe and Japan), engaging youngsters in real world issues relevant to them. As 1972 dawned, Thomas took the next logical step, transubstantiating an old Lee & Jack Kirby Fantastic Four throwaway foe into a potent political and religious metaphor.

Debuting in FF #66 (September 1967) dread mystery menace Him was re-imagined by Thomas and Gil Kane as a modern interpretation of the Christ myth: stationed on an alternate Earth far more like our own than that of Marvel’s unique universe.

Re-presenting Marvel Premiere #1-2, Warlock #1-8 and Incredible Hulk #176-178 – collectively spanning the tumultuous time between April 1972 and August 1974, this epic adventure also offers a context-soaked Introduction from originator Thomas.

It all began with April cover-dated Marvel Premiere #1, which boldly proclaimed on its cover The Power of… Warlock. Inside, the stunning fable – by Thomas, Kane & Dan Adkins – declared ‘And Men Shall Call Him… Warlock’: swiftly recapitulating the artificial man’s origins as a lab experiment concocted by rogue geneticists eager to create a superman they could control for conquest.

After facing the Fantastic Four, the manufactured man had subsequently escaped to the stars, later initiating a naive clash with Asgardian Thor over the rights to a mate before returning to an all-encompassing cosmic cocoon to evolve a little more…

Now the all-encompassing shell is plucked from the interplanetary void thanks to the moon-sized ship of self-created god The High Evolutionary. Having artificially ascended to godhood, he is wrapped up in a bold new experiment…

Establishing contact with Him as he basks in his cocoon, the Evolutionary explains that he is constructing from space rubble a duplicate planet Earth on the opposite side of the sun. Here he replays the development of life, intending that humanity on Counter Earth will evolve without the taint of cruelty and greed and deprived of the lust to kill…

It’s a magnificent scheme that might well have worked, but as the Evolutionary wearies, his greatest mistake intervenes. The Man-Beast was hyper-evolved from a wolf and gained mighty powers, but also ferocious savagery and ruthless wickedness. Now he invades the satellite, despoiling humanity’s rise and ensuring the new world’s development exactly mirror’s True-Earth’s. The only exception is the meticulous exclusion of enhanced individuals. This beleaguered planet has all mankind’s woes but no superheroes to save or inspire them.

A helpless witness to the desecration, the golden being furiously crashes free of his cocoon to save the High Evolutionary and rout the Man-Beast and his bestial cronies (all similarly evolved animal-humanoids called “New-Men”).

When the despondent and enraged science god recovers, he makes to erase his failed experiment but is stopped by his rescuer. As a powerless observer, Him saw the potential and value of embattled humanity. Despite all its flaws, he believes he can save them from the imminent doom caused by their own unthinking actions, wars and intolerance. His pleas at last convince the Evolutionary to give this mankind one last chance, and the wanderer is hurled down to Counter-Earth, equipped with a strange gem to focus his powers, a mission to find the best in the fallen and a name of his own… Adam Warlock…

Marvel Premiere #2 (July) sees the golden man-god crash to Earth in America and immediately win over a small group of disciples: a quartet of disenchanted teen runaways fleeing The Man, The Establishment and their oppressive families. His nativity and transformation leave him briefly amnesiac, and as Warlock’s followers seek to help, all are unaware that Man-Beast has moved quickly, insinuating himself and his bestial servants into the USA’s political hierarchy and Military/Industrial complex.

This devil knows the High Evolutionary is watching and breaks cover to introduce unnatural forces on a world previously devoid of superbeings and aliens. The result is an all-out attack by rat mutate Rhodan, who pounces on his prey at the very moment Colonel Barney Roberts, uber-capitalist Josiah Grey and Senator Nathan Carter track their missing kids to the desolate Southern Californian farm where they have been nursing the golden angel…

Men of power and influence, they realise their world has changed forever after seeing Warlock destroy the monstrous beast and ‘The Hounds of Helios!’

Doctor Strange was revived to fill the space in MP #3, as the gleaming saviour catapulted into his own August cover-dated title. Inked by Tom Sutton, Warlock #1 decreed ‘The Day of the Prophet!’: recapping key events and seeing the High Evolutionary safeguard his failing project by masking Counter-Earth from the rest of the solar system behind a vibratory screen.

With his mistake securely isolated from further contamination, HE asks Adam if he’s had enough of this pointless mission, and is disappointed to see Warlock’s resolve is unshaken. That assessment is questioned when the disciples take the spaceman to his first human city. Senses reeling, Warlock is drawn to bombastic street preacher and his psychic sister Astrella who are seemingly targeted by the Man-Beast. Of course, all is not as it seems…

Thomas’s plot is scripted by Mike Friedrich and John Buscema joins Sutton in illuminating ‘Count-Down for Counter-Earth!’: taking the biblical allegory even further as Warlock is captured by his vile foes and tempted with power in partnership with evil, even as his erstwhile disciples are attacked and deny him. Counter-Earth has never been closer to damnation and doom, but once more the saviour’s determination overcomes the odds…

The epic continues with Friedrich in the hot seat and Kane & Sutton reunited to steer the redeemer’s path. ‘The Apollo Eclipse’ begins with Adam and his apostles harassed by the increasingly impatient High Evolutionary following a breaching of his vibratory barrier by the Incredible Hulk and the Rhino (in Hulk #158 and reprinted in many volumes …but not this one). That episode is soon forgotten after they are targeted by another Man-Beast crony, hiding his revolting origins and unstable psyche behind a pretty façade.

The brute attacks a rocket base where Adam seeks to reconcile his youthful followers with their parents, but the subsequent clash turns into tragedy in #4’s ‘Come Sing a Searing Song of Vengeance!’ as the exposed monster takes the children hostage. Astrella senses that visiting Presidential candidate Rex Carpenter holds the key to the stalemate, but when he intervenes at her urging, unbridled escalation, death and disaster follow…

Although super-beings were excised from the world’s evolution, extraordinary beings still exist. Warlock #5 (April 1973) sees Ron Goulart write the aftermath as the doubt-riddled redeemer emerges from another sojourn in a recuperative cocoon. In the intervening months Carpenter has become President and ordered an increase in weapons testing to combat the incredible new dangers he personally witness.

Tragically, he also ignores warnings from government scientist Victor Von Doom, and when one military manoeuvre sparks ‘The Day of the Death-Birds!’ Adam is there to help when a dam is wrecked. His might is sufficient to stop the automated launch of swarms of robotic drones programmed to strafe ground-based beings, but cannot stop the grateful citizenry turning on him when President Carter declares him a menace to society…

Friedrich scripts Goulart & Thomas’ plot and Bob Brown joins the team as penciller in #6 as Warlock battles the army and Doom contacts fellow genius Reed Richards for help. However, the Latverian is unaware of a shocking change in his oldest friend who is now ‘The Brute!’: a mutated cosmic horror enthralled by the malign thing running the White House and now ordered to ambush Warlock as Astrella brings him to truce talks…

It’s all a pack of lies and a trap. As the Golden Gladiator defeats Richards, enraged mobs egged on by the President move on Warlock’s growing band of supporters. Now, though, the alien’s very public life-saving heroics have swayed fickle opinion and Carter is compelled to reverse his stance and exonerate Warlock. Even this is a ploy, allowing him to set the energy-absorbing Brute on the redeemer in ‘Doom: at the Earth’s Core!’

Beyond all control, Richards’ rampage threatens to explode Counter-Earth, and only the supreme sacrifice of one of Adams’s constantly dwinling band of supporters saves the planet…

Warlock’s rocky road paused with the next issue. Cancelled with #8, Friedrich, Brown & Sutton dutifully detailed ‘Confrontation’ in Washington DC as the supposed saviour’s supporters clashed with incensed cops. Intent on stopping a riot, Warlock finds his work magnified when Man-Beast’s New-Men minions join the battle. The saga then ends on an eternal cliffhanger as Warlock finally exposes what Carpenter is… before vanishing from sight for 8 months…

The aforementioned Hulk #158 had seen the Jade Giant dispatched to the far side of the Sun to clash on Counter-Earth with the messiahs enemies. Although excluded here, the 3-issue sequel it spawned was concocted after the Golden Godling’s series ended.

When the feature returned the tone, like the times had comprehensively changed. All the hopeful positivity and naivety had, post-Vietnam and Watergate, turned to world-weary cynicism in the manner of Moorcock’s doomed hero Elric. Maybe that was a harbinger of things to come…?

The cosmic codicil closing this initial collection came after the Hulk’s typically short-tempered encounter with the Uncanny Inhumans and devastating duel with silent super-monarch Black Bolt. Following the usual collateral carnage, the bout ended with the Gamma Goliath hurtling in a rocket-ship to the far side of the sun for a date with allegory, if not destiny.

The troubled globe codified Counter-Earth had seen messianic Adam Warlock futilely battle Satan-analogue Man-Beast: a struggle the Jade Juggernaut learned of on his previous visit. Now he crashed there again to complete the cruelly truncated metaphorical epic, beginning in ‘Crisis on Counter-Earth!’ (Incredible Hulk #176, June 1974) by Gerry Conway, Herb Trimpe & Jack Abel.

Since the Hulk’s last visit Man-Beast and his animalistic flunkies had become America’s President and Cabinet. Moving deceptively but decisively, they had finally captured Warlock and led humanity to the brink of extinction, leaving the would-be messiah’s disciples in utter confusion.

With the nation reeling, Hulk’s shattering return gives Warlock’s faithful flock opportunity to save their saviour in ‘Peril of the Plural Planet!’ but the foray badly misfires and Adam is captured. Publicly crucified, humanity’s last hope perishes…

The quasi-religious experience concludes with ‘Triumph on Terra-Two’ (Conway, Tony Isabella, Trimpe & Abel, Incredible Hulk #178). Whilst Hulk furiously battles Man-Beast, the expired redeemer resurrects in time to deliver a karmic coup de grace before ascending from Counter-Earth to the beckoning stars…

Adding temptation at the end is a gallery of Kane pencil page layouts and a half dozen inked pages plus the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page that first announced Warlock’s debut.

Ambitious and beautiful to behold, the early Warlock adventures are very much a product of their tempestuous, socially divisive times. For many, they proved how mature comics might become, but for others they were simply pretty pictures and epic fights with little lasting relevance. What they unquestionably remain is a series of crucial stepping stones to greater epics and unmissable appetisers to Marvel Magic at its finest.
© 2020 MARVEL

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Spider-Man: India


By Jeevan J. Kang & Gotham Studios Asia, Suresh Seetharaman & Sharad Devarajan & various (MARVEL)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-1640-0 (TPB/Digital edition)

It’s a small world these days and petty hindrances like geography, culture and social preference are no longer a barrier to brand expansion for major properties. Sherlock Holmes and Mickey Mouse are universal, DC and Marvel heroes have long generated locally-sourced adventures on other continents and countless other fictional stars have been tailored to suit relatively closed markets.

That’s what happened in 2004 when Marvel’s most recognisable property was reinvented for the South East Asian region and its burgeoning comics industry. The instigator was Indian entrepreneur, film producer, educator, publisher and computer game impresario Sharad Devajaran whose subsequent experience includes digital entertainment platform Virgin Comics/Liquid Comics, and Graphic India. In 2013, he and Stan Lee co-created Indian superhero Chakra the Invincible…

Before all that, Devajaran was co-founder, president and CEO of South East Asia’s leading comic book publisher Gotham Entertainment Group: spearheading the official introduction of Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Cartoon Network and Warner Brothers properties like X-Men, The Hulk, Batman and Superman to a vast and vibrant new market. That naturally led to closer collaboration and in 2004 Marvel sanctioned a new iteration of the wondrous webspinner specifically tailored to the Indian market and broadly based on the first Toby Maguire Spider-Man movie from 2002. The result of South East meets West was dubbed the first comics “trans-creation”…

The idea was not new. Translated US comics had been syndicated across the world since before WWII and Japan especially had pioneered reworkings of top brands for conservative national readerships with the 1966-1967 “Battoman” – derived from the US Batman TV series, freely adapted by Jiro Kuwata – and Ryoichi Ikegami’s Spider-Man: The Manga (1970-1971) placing remastered wallcrawler Yu Komori in a Japanese setting s seen in Monthly Shonen Magazine.

Devised by Jeevan J. Kang, Suresh Seetharaman & Sharad Devarajan and illustrated by Kang & Gotham Studios Asia, it was released as a 4-issue miniseries for India: massaging the timeless legend in a way that eventually and inevitably became a part of the larger Marvel Multiverse…

This English language collection from 2005 was lettered by Virtual Calligraphy’s Dave Sharpe: a cross cultural collaboration that opens with a mysterious mystic foretelling in nightmares a shocking future for poor but brilliant teenager Pavitr Prabhakar. Recently moved to Mumbai with his guardians Uncle Bhim and Aunt Maya to take up a school scholarship, the boy has been marked for tragedy, loss and a great but dangerous life…

His low standing and status – he comes from a distant provincial village – make Pavitr a target for the rich kids in school, but for some reason the amazing and popular Meera Jain defends and befriends him…

Across the city, crime lord and sinister industrialist Nalin Oberoi is content. His Corporation thugs have razed an entire village, and the amulet he wants so badly is his. Now after an unholy ceremony he attains incredible power at an ungodly cost: transformed into a fire-spitting green devil. He does not yet realise that he is now a living gateway for an army of demons to invade the human plane…

Another bad at school ends with Pavitr again chased by vicious bullies. He’s saved by an old yogi who looks very familiar, and declares the boy has a great destiny. In a time when the gods have no avatars to set in humanity’s defence, the world must depend on a good person empowered by the forces of the intangible Web of Life. Filled with the Spider’s power clad in bold raiment, the boy is told to fulfil his karma…

Giddy with a sense of power, Spider-Man cavorts over the city and ignores the desperate cries of those in dire need, even as, far below, Uncle Bhim gives his life to save a woman from molesters. Pavitr is too late to save him but learns an immutable life lesson and thereafter dedicates himself to living with great responsibility…

Thus begins the saga of India’s Spider-Man, with a devil-driven analogues of Doctor Octopus and Venom also debuting as Oberoi kidnaps Maya and Meera Jain. The green rakshasa’s scheme to manifest Hell on Earth culminates in a monumental clash at a refinery as the boy hero deploys the divine magic amulet, and seeks to sever the debased villains’ connection to his demonic masters with courage, the power of the web of life and his innate purity…

Most Marvel US readers recognise Pavitr Prabhakar from assorted mainstream events like Secret Wars and Spider-Verse and their fallout spin-offs, where his uniqueness is rather lost and definitely downplayed. However, this initial outing offers a truly different spin on the webspinner and if you require a fresh taste or something a little different, this is well worth a visit.
© 2021 MARVEL.

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The Savage She-Hulk Marvel Masterworks volume 2


By David Anthony Kraft, Mike Vosburg, Alan Kupperberg, Frank Springer & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-1718-0 (HB/Digital edition)

Until comparatively recently, American comics had pitifully few strong female role models and almost no viable solo stars. Happily, that situation has (after a rather regrettable extended and exploitative era of “chicks fighting in saucepan lid bikinis or metallic dental floss”) largely self-corrected, as more women creators and readers redressed – sometimes almost literally – the balance.

Now we have more fully thought out than fully-rounded characters everywhere: maternal, understanding ones, slinky seductive ones, sassy and vituperative ones and even funny ones, but always, Always powerful, competent and capable ones.

Although she debuted during those male-pandering times – and was usually clad in rather revealing yet conspicuously chaste rags and tatters – She-Hulk was always a rebel who played against type, and her first stab at stardom offered many off-kilter moments that broke superheroic traditions…

Let’s recap: lawyer Jennifer Walters is the cousin of Bruce Banner. After being shot because of a case she was working on, she received an emergency blood transfusion from him, with the inevitable result that she also started uncontrollably changing into an anger-fuelled rage monster remarkably like The Incredible Hulk…

This second hulking hardcover volume – or enthralling eBook, if you prefer – re-presents The Savage She-Hulk #15-25, and spans April 1981 to June 1982 by including a final foray from Marvel Two-In-One #88.

Combining soap opera melodrama with hotly-bubbling suspense in the style of paranoic TV series like The Fugitive and explosive action, it also ramps up tension by opening with some fact-packed, behind-the-scenes reminiscences in scribe David Anthony Kraft’s (AKA DAK) effulgent Introduction ‘Can a Woman with Green Skin and a Petulant Personality Find True Happiness in Today’s Status-Seeking Society?’.

With context firmly confirmed, we roar back into the turbulent, off-kilter life of The Savage She-Hulk with #15 where DAK, penciller Mike Vosburg & inker Frank Springer conjure up and puncture many ‘Delusions’.

Jen Walters is slowly getting her legal career back on track, but her personal life (lives?) is still a total train wreck. Her father Morris Walters is county sheriff and pursues the outlaw She-Hulk with obsessive zeal for a murder she did not commit. Troubled by his growing mania, Jen has no idea that he has fallen under the influence of a designing, controlling woman.

Beverly Cross seems like a demure divorcee with nothing in mind except autumn romance, but is gradually taking control of his finances and personal life: isolating Morris from friends whilst driving a wedge between him and his daughter over many patient months…

Of more immediate concern to Jen is the growing animosity between her boyfriend Richard Rory and overly-attentive neighbour (and She-Hulk’s teen friend/assistant) Danny “Zapper” Ridge. He’s now openly hostile to Rory …which is not really surprising, since Zapper has just taken his relationship with her other self “to the next level”…

Meanwhile, a singer with an enormous gift for self-deceit and sowing dissent finally takes a long, hard look at herself and decides to end a life of pain and regret. Thankfully, a ferocious Green Goddess decides otherwise…

Roaming Los Angeles and increasingly unwilling to transform back into Jen, She-Hulk soon discovers her “weak sister” alter ego has her place, after becoming embroiled in a local controversy. ‘The Zapping of the She-Hulk’ details how a telecommunications mast is making residents ill, anxious and – in some cases – blind. Initially hopeful, Jen’s legal resources prove no match for big business in defence mode, and the Viridian Virago has to literally lend her muscle to the cause – but only after a bigoted madman tries to silence all these interfering women with a weaponised, microwave-enhanced high tech armoured outfit…

Cover-dated June, SS-H #17 plumbed daft depths but delivered a surprisingly effective turning point tale in ‘Make Way for the Man-Elephant’ as philanthropist Manfred Ellsworth Haller employs his fortune to build a pachydermic super-suit to bring in the rampaging green “menace”.

The benevolent vigilante is blithely unaware that crusading Assistant District Attorney “Buck” Bukowski has just uncovered evidence proving She-Hulk innocent of the murders she’s been accused of since her second appearance…

Viewed from this distance, it seems clear now that some level of editorial input demanded these latter comic episodes should mirror the plots, tone and “simplified realism” of The Incredible Hulk TV show. Originally broadcast from 4th November 1977 to 12th May 1982 it largely eschewed fantasy elements, with commonplace crime and rampant weird science supplanting Marvel’s signature crossovers and flamboyant supervillain shenanigans…

The rifts separating Jen and She-Hulk from their allies and each other intensify in ‘When Favors Come Due’ as medical student Zapper is conned and then blackmailed by a college colleague into handing over genetic data from a She-Hulk blood sample, even as, in court, minor hoodlum and former client Lou Monkton seeks to implicate Jen Walters in an insurance scam. Although the lawyer avoids shame and disbarment, her already shaky faith in humanity takes another heavy hit, so it’s almost a relief when bullion bandit The Grappler’s latest heist gives her a target to smash and good reason to do so…

Always lurking at the fringe of the Marvel Universe, the Savage She-Hulk began her last rampage in #19. An extended storyline recapitulated her origins and core relationships whilst showing the true power and potential of the star.

Diligently wrapping up the many ongoing subplots, the saga starts in ‘Designer Genes!!’ as Zapper’s blackmailer “Doc” traps the Emerald Ogress and extracts enough genetic material to mutate his lab assistant Ralphie into a belligerent plasmoid Brute. Sadly for them, he’s no match for an enraged, escaped She-Hulk, but equally unfortunate for her, they both get away before she can finish them…

With life sucking so badly, the Green Giant refuses to resume her weakest self, unaware that all the friends she thinks have betrayed her are at last talking to each other and realising how unfair they’ve been. Sheriff Walters even catches Bev Cross destroying a letter from his daughter but She-Hulk is too far gone to care. After gaining a measure of public approval by foiling a string of robberies she opts ‘To Stay the She-Hulk’…

She still has enemies, however, and in #21 they start gathering. As LA’s underworld is taken over by new player Shadow, Monckton rallies the embattled crime families, but crooks are notoriously treacherous, and betrayal leads to disaster in ‘Arena!’ when the dark newcomer lures She-Hulk into battle against sinister super-stalker The Seeker…

The crisis deepens in ‘Bad Vibes’ as another impossibly powerful foe targets her. After Radius is defeated, an unlikely alliance is formed with Moncton’s mooks as – inked by Dave Simons, Al Milgrom & Jack Abel, #23 announces ‘The She-Hulk War!’

DAK & Vosburg introduce mighty mystery villain Torque to lay the groundwork for the final clash as the outlaws invade Shadow’s isolated estate and learn it too is a sentient weapon on ‘The Day the Planet Screamed!’ (Milgrom, Sal Trapani & Armando Gil inking). The defeat of Earth-Lord triggers Doc’s ultimate plan to attain planet-shaking power, but also reveals a crucial secret about his army of super-pawns…

In advance of the big finale, a brace of Vosburg She-Hulk pin-ups show her gentler side and anticipate her later semi-humorous mien before the climactic conclusion. Inked by “Diverse Hands” (Milgrom, Trapani, Vosburg, Rick Magyar, Mike Gustovich, Simons, Steve Mitchell, Bob Wiacek, Joe Rubinstein & Abel) a big fourth-wall busting send-off in #25 (cover-dated February 1982) reveals ‘Transmutations’ and reconciles all the distanced friends and family in advance of a cosmic war to save the world…

Having saved us all, She-Hulk joined the ranks of Marvel’s many guest stars-in-waiting… but only for a while. Mere months later, Kraft, Alan Kupperberg & Chic Stone detailed a ‘Disaster at Diablo Reactor’ (Marvel Two-In-One #88, June 1982) with future Fantastic Four teammate Ben “The Thing” Grimm joining Jen’s most assertive self in stopping the nefarious Negator’s plans to turn Los Angeles into a cloud of radioactive vapour…

The supremely Savage She-Hulk would eventually evolve into a scintillating semi-comedic superstar and – ultimately – tragic paragon, but for now these early epics conclude with an extras section including her entry in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9; comedy spoof ‘What If the Hulk Married the She-Hulk?’ by Roger Stern & Terry Austin from What If volume 1 #34 (August 1982) and its sequel spoof ‘She-Hulkie’ both with their original art and a gallery of original art pages by Vosburg and inkers Al Milgrom, Austin & Steve Mitchell.

Lean, mean, and evergreen, these intriguing and long-overlooked Marvel Masterpieces are well worth your attention and may prove invaluable once the TV incarnation finds its own audience. Why are you waiting?
© 2019 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Popeye Classics volume 7: “Nothing” and More


By Bud Sagendorf, edited and designed by Craig Yoe (Yoe Books/IDW)
ISBN: 978-1-63140-447-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-62302-786-5

How many cartoon classics can you think of still going after a century? Here’s one…

There are a few fictional personages to enter communal world consciousness – and fewer still from comics – but a grizzled, bluff, uneducated, visually impaired old sailor with a speech impediment is possibly the most well-known of that select bunch.

Elzie Crisler Segar was born in Chester, Illinois on 8th December 1894. His father was a general handyman, and the boy’s early life was filled with the solid, dependable blue-collar jobs that typified the formative years of his generation of cartoonists. Segar worked as a decorator, house-painter and also played drums; accompanying vaudeville acts at the local theatre.

When the town got a movie-house, Elzie played silent films, absorbing all the staging, timing and narrative tricks from keen observation of the screen. Those lessons would become his greatest assets as a cartoonist. It was while working as the film projectionist, at age 18, that he decided to become a cartoonist and tell his own stories.

Like so many others in those hard times, he studied art via mail, specifically W.L. Evans’ cartooning correspondence course out of Cleveland, Ohio, before gravitating to Chicago where he was “discovered” by Richard F. Outcault – regarded by most in the know today as the inventor of modern newspaper comic strips with The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown.

The celebrated pioneer introduced Segar around at the prestigious Chicago Herald. Still wet behind the ears, the kid’s first strip, Charley Chaplin’s Comedy Capers, debuted on 12th March 1916.

In 1918, Segar married Myrtle Johnson and moved to William Randolph Hearst’s Chicago Evening American to create Looping the Loop, where Managing Editor William Curley foresaw a big future for Segar and promptly packed the newlyweds off to New York: HQ of the mighty King Features Syndicate. Within a year Segar was producing Thimble Theatre, (launching December 19th 1919) in the New York Journal: a smart pastiche of cinema and knock-off of movie-inspired features like Hairbreadth Harry and Midget Movies, with a repertory of stock players acting out comedies, melodramas, comedies, crime-stories, chases and especially comedies for vast daily audiences. It didn’t stay that way for long…

The core cartoon cast included parental pillars Nana and Cole Oyl; their lanky, highly-strung daughter Olive; diminutive-but-pushy son Castor; and the homely ingenue’s plain and (very) simple occasional boyfriend Horace Hamgravy (latterly, just Ham Gravy). Thimble Theatre had successfully run for a decade when, on January 17th 1929, a brusque, vulgar “sailor man” shambled into the daily ongoing saga of hapless halfwits. Nobody dreamed the giddy heights that stubborn cantankerous walk-on would reach…

In 1924 Segar created a second daily strip. The 5:15 was a surreal domestic comedy featuring weedy commuter and would-be inventor John Sappo and his formidable wife Myrtle. This one endured – in one form or another – as a topper/footer-feature accompanying the main Sunday page throughout the author’s career, and even survived his untimely death, eventually becoming the trainee-playground of Popeye’s second great humour stylist: Bud Sagendorf.

After Segar’s premature passing in 1938, Doc Winner, Tom Sims, Ralph Stein and Bela Zambouly all took on the strip, as the Fleischer Studio’s animated features brought Popeye to the entire world, albeit a slightly variant vision of the old salt of the funny pages. Sadly, none had the eccentric flair and raw inventiveness that had put Thimble Theatre at the forefront of cartoon entertainments. And then, finally, Bud arrived…

Born in 1915, Forrest “Bud” Sagendorf was barely 17 when his sister – who worked in the Santa Monica art store where Segar bought his drawing supplies – introduced the kid to the master cartoonist who became his teacher and employer as well as a father-figure. In 1958, after years on the periphery, Sagendorf finally took over the strip and all the merchandise design, becoming Popeye’s prime originator…

With Sagendorf as main man, his loose, rangy style and breezy scripts brought the strip itself back to the forefront of popularity and made reading it cool and fun all over again. Bud wrote and drew Popeye in every graphic arena for 24 years. When he died in 1994, his successor was controversial “Underground” cartoonist Bobby London.

Young Bud had been Segar’s assistant and apprentice, and in 1948 became exclusive writer and artist of Popeye’s comic book exploits. The series launched in February of that year in a regular title published by America’s unassailable king of periodical licensing, Dell Comics.

On debut, Popeye was a rude, crude brawler: a gambling, cheating, uncivilised ne’er-do-well. He was soon exposed as the ultimate working-class hero: raw and rough-hewn, practical, but with an innate, unshakable sense of what’s fair and what’s not; a joker who wanted kids to be themselves – but not necessarily “good” – and someone who took no guff from anyone…

Naturally, as his popularity grew, Popeye mellowed somewhat. He was still ready to defend the weak and had absolutely no pretensions or aspirations to rise above his fellows, but the shocking sense of dangerous unpredictability and comedic anarchy he initially provided was sorely missed… except not in Sagendorf’s yarns…

Collected in this superb full-colour hardback/digital edition are Popeye #30-34, crafted by irrepressible “Bud”: collectively spanning September/November 1954 to October/December 1955. Stunning, nigh stream-of-consciousness slapstick sagas are preceded by an effusively appreciative ‘Society of Sagendorks’ briefing by inspired aficionado, historian and publisher Craig Yoe, offering a mirthful mission statement.

Augmenting that is another tantalising display of ephemera and merchandise in ‘A Bud Sagendorf Scrapbook’ presenting Coca-Cola Company-funded comic strip themed postcards distributed to WWII servicemen; original art, tin toys; a Popeye Chalkboard; Get Well Soon and Birthday card art plus images on cups and mugs.

We rejoin the ceaseless parade of laughs, surreal imagination and thrills with quarterly comic book #30, opening with text tale ‘The Bigger They Are -’ detailing, across the inside front-&-back covers, the story of Throckmorton …biggest tomcat in the world!

Another wild ride in begins in ‘Desert Pirates (a story of Evil Haggery)’ as Popeye’s ruthless nemesis The Sea Hag uses witchcraft, seduction, brainwashing and principally hamburgers to turn Wimpy into her weapon against the old sea salt. Naturally, when the hero blunders into her arid ambush, the scurvy faithless traitor then betrays her to Popeye – it’s just his nature…

An engaging Micawber-like coward, cad and conman, the insatiably ravenous J. Wellington Wimpy debuted in the newspaper strip on May 3rd 1931: an unnamed, decidedly partisan referee in one of Popeye’s pugilistic bouts.

Scurrilous, aggressively humble and scrupulously polite, the devious oaf struck a chord and Segar gradually made him a fixture. Preternaturally hungry, ever-keen to solicit bribes and a cunning coiner of many immortal catchphrases – such as “I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” and “Let’s you and him fight” – Wimpy was the perfect foil for our simple action hero and increasingly stole the entire show… and anything else unless it was very heavy or extremely well nailed down…

Follow-up yarn ‘Popeye An’ Swee’Pea in “Danger, Lunch!”’ resorts to tireless domestic themes as a quiet meal with Olive becomes an assault course after the anarchic and precocious “infink” gets bored and amuses himself with a hammer and chemistry set…

Smartly acknowledging a contemporary trend for sci fi fun, Sagendorf had introduced ‘Axle and Cam on the Planet Meco’ in #26: a robotic father and son indulging in wild romps on other worlds. Here they observe Earth television shows and the lads decides what his world needs is beanie hats, sidewalk refreshment stands and fun with dragons…

Cover-dated January/March 1955, #31 also opens and closes with a prose yarn adorning inside front and back. ‘Apple Vote!’ exposes the shocking behaviour of a retired racehorse with a sweet tooth after which ‘Thimble Theatre Presents Popeye An’ Swee’Pea in “Mud!”’ finds unconventional family unit Popeye, Swee’Pea and villainous reprobate Poopdeck Pappy deemed dysfunctional by Olive. Her eccentric efforts to save the kid and make him a gentleman are resisted by all involved with extreme vigour…

Just as the sailor man idly daydreams of being a monarch, the wacky ruler of Spinachovia returns in ‘Popeye and King Blozo in “Exile!” or “Bein’ King is Fer de Boids!!!”’ with the maritime marvel unwisely trading cap for crown  and learning a salutary lesson about people in general and being careful of what you wish for, after which ‘Axle and Cam on the Planet Meco’ sees the mechanical moppet pay a fraught and frightening visit to Earth…

The issue concludes with a back cover strip starring ‘Popeye and Swee’Pea’ inspired by baby pictures…

Popeye #32 (April/June) opens with epic thrill-fest ‘Alone! or Hey! Where is Everybody? or Peoples is All Gone!’ as humans are abducted from all over the coast, leading the sailor man into another ferocious battle with evil machines and his most persistent enemy, after which our stars swap sea-voyages for western climes in “a tale of gold and cactus” entitled ‘Lorst!’

Set some years previously, the story reveals how Popeye made his fortune prospecting – despite and ultimately because of a little trouble with his newly adopted kid…

Sagendorf was a smart guy in tune with popular trends and fashions as well as understanding how kids’ minds worked. His tales are timeless in approach and delivery. As television exponential expanded, cowboys were king, with westerns dominating both large and small screens and plenty of comics. Thus, many episodes saw Popeye as a horse-riding sagebrush wanderer who ran a desert railroad when he wasn’t prospecting or exploring. I don’t think he ever carried a gun though…

The changing times dictated a shift in back-up features and the final ‘Axle and Cam on the Planet Meco’ exploit saw their world in chaos after Cam tried to transplant the human fashion for lawns to his own planet. Text tale ‘Catfish! detailed a meeting between fish feline and mutt and a wordless desert inspired back cover strip starring ‘Popeye and Swee’Pea’ wrapped thigs up.

The next issue (#33 July/September) offered a monochrome ‘Popeye and Swee’Pea’ house-wrecking short before main feature ‘Trouble-Shooter’ sees the tireless “hoomanitarian” set up as a helping hand for folk with troubles. Sadly, the gesture attracts some real nuts like cowardly King Hinkle of Moola who needs a patsy to fight rival ruler the King of Boola…

Returning to western deserts, Popeye and Swee’Pea swap sea-voyages for arid plains in ‘Monskers!’ and encounter a gigantic dinosaur which is not what it seems…

The replacement back-up feature was actually a return of Segar-spawned old favourites. Sappo was now hapless landlord to world’s worst lodger Professor O.G. Wotasnozzle, who callously inflicts the brunt of his genius on the poor schmuck. In ‘I’m the Smartest Man in the World!’, the lunatic fringe scientist decides to end late payment harassment by uninventing money…

A prose vignette reveals the fate of cowboy pony George who has ‘A Long Tail!’, before the fun pauses with a back-cover baseball gag starring Popeye An’ Swee’Pea.

The year and this archive close with #34, starting with more ‘Popeye An’ Swee’Pea’ baseball exploits on the monochrome inside front cover before Thimble Theatre Presents sailor man, Olive, Wimpy and the kid who endure a nautical nightmare storm that leaves our cast castaway on an island of irascible, invisible folk in eponymous saga ‘Nothing!’

Next, Popeye An’ Swee’Pea revisit western deserts to dig in the dirt and face ‘Uprising! or The Red Man Strikes Back! or Birds of a Feather!’ as the kid contends with and eventually befriends Indian infant Big Chief Thunder Eagle Jr. Sadly their play war on the white man is misunderstood by Wimpy who calls in not the cavalry but the US Army…

The manic mirth multiplies exponentially when Professor O.G. Wotasnozzle proves his insane ingenuity and dangerous lack of perspective in ‘Stop Thief!! or Please Halt! or Burglarproof House!’ before the fun concludes with one last text treat in transformative tale ‘Fish Fly!’ and a back cover gag proving why adults like Popeye should listen to kids like Swee’Pea…

Outrageous and side-splitting, these all-ages yarns are evergreen examples of narrative cartooning at its most surreal and inspirational. Over the last nine decades Thimble Theatre’s most successful son has unfailingly delighted readers and viewers around the world. This book is simply one of many, but each is sure-fire, top-tier entertainment for all those who love lunacy, laughter, frantic fantasy and rollicking adventure. If that’s you, add this compendium of wonder to your collection.
Popeye Classics volume 7 © 2015 Gussoni-Yoe Studio, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Popeye © 2015 King Features Syndicate. ™ Heart Holdings Inc.

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X-Men Epic Collection volume 8: I, Magneto (1981-1982)


By Chris Claremont, Jo Duffy, Bob Layton, Dace Cockrum, Michael Golden, Brent Anderson, Paul Smith, Jim Sherman, Bob McLeod, John Buscema, George Pérez & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-3029-2952-7 (TPB/Digital edition)

In 1963, The X-Men #1 introduced Scott (Cyclops) Summers, Jean (Marvel Girl) Grey, Bobby (Iceman) Drake, Warren (Angel) Worthington III and Hank (The Beast) McCoy: unique students of Professor Charles Xavier. Their teacher was a wheelchair-bound telepath dedicated to brokering peace and integration between the masses of humanity and the emergent off-shoot race of mutants dubbed Homo superior; considered by many who knew him as a living saint.

After eight years of eccentrically amazing adventures, the mutant misfits almost disappeared at the beginning of 1970 during another periodic downturn in superhero comics sales. Just as in the 1940s, mystery men faded away whilst traditional genres – especially supernatural yarns – dominated entertainment fields. The title returned at year’s end as a reprint vehicle, and the missing mutants became perennial guest-stars and bit-players throughout the Marvel Universe. The Beast was suitably refashioned as a monster fit for the global uptick in scary stories…

Everything changed again in 1975 when Len Wein & Dave Cockrum revived and reordered the Mutant mystique via a brand-new team in Giant Size X-Men #1. Old foes-turned-friends Banshee and Sunfire joined one-shot Hulk hunter Wolverine and original creations Kurt Wagner (a demonic German teleporter codenamed Nightcrawler), African weather “goddess” Ororo Monroe – AKA Storm, Russian farmboy Peter Rasputin (who transformed into a living steel Colossus) and bitter, disillusioned Apache superman John Proudstar who was cajoled into joining the makeshift squad as Thunderbird.

The revision was an instant hit, with Wein’s editorial assistant Chris Claremont assuming the writer’s role from the second story onwards. The Uncanny X-Men reclaimed their comic book with #94, which soon became the company’s most popular – and highest quality – title.

After Thunderbird became the team’s first fatality, the survivors slowly bonded, becoming an unparalleled fighting unit under the brusquely draconian supervision of Cyclops. Cockrum was succeeded by John Byrne and as the team roster changed, the series scaled even greater heights, culminating in the landmark Dark Phoenix storyline which saw the death of arguably the book’s most beloved, imaginative and powerful character.

In the aftermath, team leader Cyclops left but the epic cosmic saga also seemed to fracture the groundbreaking working relationship of Claremont & Byrne. Within months they went their separate ways: Claremont staying with mutants whilst Byrne went on to establish his own reputation as a writer with series such as Alpha Flight, Incredible Hulk and especially his revolutionary reimagining of The Fantastic Four…

This comprehensive compilation is an ideal jumping-on point, perfect for newbies, neophytes and old lags nervous over re-reading these splendid yarns on fragile, extremely valuable newsprint paper. It celebrates a changing of the guard as the mutants consolidated their unstoppable march to market dominance through high-quality storytelling Seen here are issues #144-153 of the (latterly re-renamed “Uncanny”) X-Men; X-Men Annual #5, Avengers Annual #10 and material from Bizarre Adventures #27 and Marvel Fanfare #1-4, spanning April 1981-September 1982.

Scripted by Claremont and illustrated by Brent Anderson & Joseph Rubenstein the drama resumes with X-Men #144 as ‘Even in Death…’ finds heartbroken wanderer Scott Summers (who quit after the death of Jean Grey) fetching up in coastal village Shark Bay before joining the crew of a fishing boat.

Trouble is never far from Cyclops, however, and when captain Aletys Forester introduces him to her dad, Scott must draw upon all his inner reserves – and instinctive assistance of macabre swamp guardian Man-Thing – to repel crushing, soul-consuming psychic assaults from pernicious demon D’spayre, who has made the region his personal torture garden…

Cockrum returned to the team he co-created in #145, joining Claremont & Rubinstein in an extended clash of cultures as ‘Kidnapped!’ sees the X-Men targeted by Doctor Doom, thanks to the machinations of deranged assassin Arcade.

With Storm, Colossus, Angel, Wolverine and Nightcrawler invading the Diabolical Dictator’s castle, a substitute-squad consisting of Iceman, Polaris, Banshee and Havoc are despatched to the killer-for-hire’s mechanised ‘Murderworld!’ to rescue family and friends of the heroes, all previously kidnapped by Arcade. In the interim, Doom has defeated the invading X-Men of his castle, but his cruel act of entrapping claustrophobe Ororo has backfired, triggering a ‘Rogue Storm!’ that could erase the USA from the globe…

Issue #148 opens with Scott and Aletys shipwrecked on a recently reemergent island holding the remnants of a lost civilisation, but the main event is a trip to Manhattan for 13-year-old X-Man Kitty Pryde, accompanied by Storm, Spider-Woman Jessica Drew and Dazzler Alison Blair. That’s lucky, since nomadic mutant empath Caliban calamitously attempts to abduct the child in ‘Cry, Mutant!’ by Claremont, Cockrum & Rubinstein…

A major menace resurfaces in #149 to threaten the shipwrecked couple, but the active X-Men are too busy to notice, dealing with resurrected demi-god Garokk and an erupting volcano in ‘And the Dead Shall Bury the Living!’ before all the varied plots converge in #150 (October 1981). Before that, though, there’s a crucial diversion that will affect and reshape the X-Men for years to come.

Crafted by Claremont, Michael Golden & Armando Gil, ‘By Friends… Betrayed!’  comes from Avengers Annual #10: seemingly closing the superhero career of Carol Danvers AKA Ms. Marvel. Powerless and stripped of her memories, Danvers is rescued from drowning by Spider-Woman, even as mutant shapeshifter Mystique launches an attack on the World’s Mightiest Superheroes to free her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from jail.

It’s revealed that Danvers’ mind and abilities have been permanently stolen by a power-leaching teenager dubbed Rogue and in the aftermath of the assembled heroes defeating Mystique, the Avengers learn a horrific truth: how they had inadvertently surrendered their comrade Carol into the grip of a manipulative villain acting as the perfect husband…

Returning to the X-Men, the anniversary issue delivers extended epic ‘I, Magneto’ seeing the merciless, malevolent master of magnetism threaten all humanity. with Xavier’s team helpless to stop him… until a critical moment triggers an emotional crisis and awakening of the tortured villain’s long-suppressed humanity…

Claremont, Anderson & Bob McLeod then craft riotous intergalactic wonderment in X-Men Annual #5’s ‘Ou, La La…Badoon!’ When the Fantastic Four help an alien fugitive stranded in Manhattan they are in turn targeted by unsavoury, invisible lizard-men. Only Susan Richards escapes, fighting her way to Westchester to enlist the aid of the X-Men: combat veterans well acquainted with battling aliens.

The rescue mission starts with a stopover in the extradimensional realm of Arkon the Magnificent where the Badoon have already triumphed and where, amid much mayhem, the liberators overthrow the invaders and provide salvation for three worlds…

Chronologically adrift but sacrificed to a cohesive reading order, the contents of Marvel Fanfare #1-4 follow. Published between March and September 1982, the astounding saga was an elite yarn designed to launch a prestige format showcase of Marvel characters and talent. The new title featured slick paper stock, superior printing (all standard today) and a rolling brief to promote innovation and bold new directions.

Under Al Milgrom’s editorial guidance, numerous notable tales from exceptional creators were published, but cynical me – and not just me – soon noticed that many of those creators were ones who had problems with periodical publishing and couldn’t make fixed deadlines…

These day’s that’s nothing to shout over: comics come out when they do and editors have no real power to decree otherwise, but in the 1980s it was big deal, because printers booked a project for a pre-specified date, and charged punitive fees if publishers didn’t get product in on time. That’s why inventory tales were created: fill-ins that sat in a drawer until a writer blew it or an artist had his work eaten by the dog. Sometimes the US Mail simply lost completed stuff in transit…

Scripted by Claremont, and also including Milgrom’s humorous ‘Editor-Al’ intro pages, Savage Land was collected in 1987 and again in 2002: uniting Spider-Man, Ka-Zar and a grab bag of X-Men in a spectacular return to that primordial paradise: an antediluvian repository beneath the South Pole where fantastic civilisations and dinosaurs fretfully co-exist.

Illustrated and coloured by Golden, it begins with a ‘Fast Descent into Hell!’ when distraught Tanya Anderssen tries to find her missing lover, last seen in that lost world. Disturbingly, the missing man is Karl Lykos, a troubled soul addicted to feeding on mutants and likely to become ghastly humanoid pteranosaur Sauron. Tanya’s only hope of saving him was via Warren Worthington III – publicly infamous as former/occasional X-Man The Angel.

The billionaire’s reluctant expedition to the Savage Land ultimately includes an embedded news team from the Daily Bugle, including photographer/trouble magnet Peter Parker, who quickly stumbles across a band of native evil mutants planning to conquer the outer world by creating mutant hybrids from human victims – like Spider-Man…

Second chapter ‘To Sacrifice my Soul…’ has Spidey and local hero Ka-Zar, the Jungle Lord, join forces to crush the mutation plot, inadvertently unleashing Sauron on the sub-polar world.

Golden’s stylish easy grace gave way to the slick, accomplished method of Dave Cockrum, & Bob McLeod for ‘Into the Land of Death…’ as X-Men Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Storm join Angel to thwart the diabolical dinosaur man and his malign mutant allies, before legend-in-training Paul Smith – assisted by inker Terry Austin – stepped in to finish the epic in grand style and climactic action in ‘Lost Souls!’

We then pop back to November 1981 for X-Men #151 wherein Jim Sherman, McLeod & Rubinstein welcome back Cyclops and wave Kitty goodbye in ‘X-Men Minus One!’

Due to the manipulations of White Queen Emma Frost, the teenager’s parents withdraw their daughter from Xavier’s school to enrol her in the Massachusetts Academy which covertly operates as the Hellfire Club’s training camp for young recruits. However, the sinister scheme is even deeper than the X-Men fear, as telepath Frost switches bodies with Storm to further her plan to eradicate the mutant heroes.

What nobody seems to realise is that although Frost has gained Ororo’s weather powers, her victim now has her appearance, loyal henchmen and psionic powers. Despite the deployment of terrifying robotic Sentinels, the plot spectacularly fails in closing instalment ‘The Hellfire Gambit’, illustrated by McLeod & Rubinstein…

Cockrum was back for #153, adding layers of whimsy to the usual angst and melodrama as ‘Kitty’s Fairy Tale’ sees the X-Mansion under reconstruction and the teen back where she belongs. As repairs continue, she tells bedtime stories to Colossus’ baby sister Illyana: using her teammates as inspiration, she spins a beguiling yarn of fantastic space pirates…

The action closes with the contents of monochrome “mature-reader” magazine Bizarre Adventures #27 (July 1981) sharing untold tales under the umbrella heading of ‘Secret Lives of the X-Men’…

Preceded by editorial ‘Listen, I Knew the X-Men When…’ and ‘X-Men Data Log’ pages by illustrated by Cockrum, these are offbeat solo tales of our idiosyncratic stars, opening with Phoenix in ‘The Brides of Attuma’ by Claremont, John Buscema & Klaus Janson. Here the dear departed mutant’s sister Sara Grey recalls a past moment when they were abducted by an undersea barbarian and even then Jean proved to be more than any mortal could handle…

That’s followed by Iceman vignette ‘Winter Carnival’ by Mary Jo Duffy, Pérez & Alfredo Alcala, wherein Bobby Drake is embroiled in a college heist with potentially catastrophic consequences, before ‘Show me the way to go home…’ (Bob Layton, Duffy, Cockrum & Ricardo Villamonte) pits Nightcrawler against villainous teleporter the Vanisher in a light-hearted trans-dimensional romp involving warrior women, threats to the very nature of reality and gratuitous (male) nudity…

Extras include original art pages by Cockrum, Rubinstein, Anderson & McLeod; Cockrum’s cover to fanzine The X-Men Chronicles; Byrne & Austin’s cover for the X-men parody issue of Crazy (#82, January 1982) and John Buscema’s 1987 Savage Land collection.

For many fans these tales comprise a definitive high point for the X-Men. Rightly ranking amongst the greatest stories Marvel ever published, they remain supremely satisfying, groundbreaking and painfully intoxicating: an invaluable grounding in contemporary fights ‘n’ tights fiction no fan or casual reader can afford to ignore.
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