![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Super-Summer-Annual-150x198.jpg\")
\nBy various (Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd.)
\nNo ISBN:<\/p>\n
\nBy various (Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd.)
\nNo ISBN:<\/p>\n
It took the British a very long time to get the hang of American-style superheroes – just ask any old UK-based fan about Tri-Man<\/em>, Gadget Man and Gimmick Kid<\/em> or the Phantom Viking<\/em> if you doubt me – but we never had any trouble with more traditional genre standards, which is why this delightful oddment of UK reprint publishing boasts such a decidedly eclectic all-star line up.<\/p>\n Probably released in 1961, it’s a monochrome affair with soft card-covers, gathering select licensed snippets from National Comics\/DC, presumably thought to be appealing or of interest to us junior limeys. The decidedly quirky special offers choice late-1950s escapades of Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder<\/em>, The Viking Prince<\/em>, Superman<\/em> & Lois Lane<\/em> and Davy Crockett<\/em>, bundled up as a marvellously mixed bag of tales which must have frankly baffled and bedazzled the kids of Britain in equal amounts.<\/p>\n The book was (probably) released in 1961 by UK based Atlas Publishing and Distribution, re-reprinting material licensed to Australian outfit KG Murray Publishing Company – one of many small outfits repackaging American strips for the anything-goes UK marketplace\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n In America during the 1950s, when superheroes were in a seemingly inescapable trough, comicbook companies looked to different types of leading men in their action heroes. In 1955 writer\/editor Robert Kanigher created a traditional adventure comic entitled The Brave and the Bold<\/strong> which featured historical strips and stalwarts.<\/p>\n The Golden Gladiator<\/em>, illustrated by Russ Heath, was set in the declining days of the Roman Empire, The Silent Knight<\/em> fought injustice in Norman Britain, courtesy of Irv Novick, and the already-legendary Joe Kubert was drawing the exploits of a valiant young Norseman dubbed the Viking Prince<\/em>.<\/p>\n This last feature appeared in almost every issue and eventually took over Brave and the Bold<\/strong> entirely, until the resurgent superhero boom saw B&B<\/strong> retooled as a try-out title with its 25th<\/sup> issue. Before that, however, those fanciful, practically \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hollywoodish\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Viking sagas were among some of the finest adventure comics of all time (and they’re long overdue for a definitive collection of their own).<\/p>\n The valiant Jon<\/em> has long been a fan favourite, intermittently returning in DC’s war titles and often guest-starring in such varied venues as Sgt. Rock<\/strong> and even Justice League of America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Here at the height of his popularity, the lonely wanderer and his companion the Mute Bard<\/em> kick off proceeding in fine fettle, accepting ‘The Challenge of the Flying Horse’<\/em> (B&B<\/strong> #19 Aug\/Sep 1958 by Bob Haney & Kubert) and invading Valhalla to aid the comely Valkyries against an invasion of menacing Moon Vikings\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/em><\/p>\n Tales from the censorious 1950s (with just a little overlapping touch of the 1960s) always favoured plot over drama \u00e2\u20ac\u201c indeed, a strong argument could be made that all DC’s post-war costumed crusaders actually shared one personality (and yes I’m including Wonder Woman)<\/em> – so narrative drive focused on comfortably familiar situations or outlandish themes and paraphernalia, but as a kid they simply blew me away.<\/p>\n They still do.<\/p>\n The Gotham Gangbusters especially had to perpetually think and act outside the box as they fought crime and worse with kid gloves on. ‘Batman\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Superman of Planet X!’<\/em> (from Batman<\/strong> #113, February 1958 by France Herron, Dick Sprang & Charles Paris) offers fantastic science fiction fantasy and perhaps the best ever art job ever seen in an incredible, spectacular stupendous romp with the Cowled Crimebuster shanghaied to a distant galaxy to save an advanced civilisation from invasion\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n At a time when the rise of television had made the colonial west crucial viewing, almost every publisher who had survived the birth of the Comics Code had their own iteration of Davy Crockett<\/strong>. National\/DC joined the party rather late with Frontier Fighters<\/strong>, which ran for 8 issues between summer 1955 and the end of 1956.<\/p>\n The anthological title supplemented the man of the moment with the equally public-domain likes of Kit Carson<\/em>, Buffalo Bill<\/em>, Buck Skinner<\/em> and similar mythic types whilst incorporating all the tropes and ingrained stereotypes you’d expect of the times, but cover-featured Crockett was always the main attraction.<\/p>\n ‘The Renegade Fur-Traders’<\/em> was first seen in #6 (July-August 1956), by an unnamed author and illustrated with captivating authenticity by the excellent John Prentice, not long before he would begin ghosting the Rip Kirby<\/strong> newspaper strip. It told of how Davy and his mountainous pal Sam Willoughby<\/em> saved a tribe of Piegan Indians from being swindled by wicked white men\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n When Lois Lane<\/strong> – arguably the oldest supporting character\/star in the Superman mythology if not DC universe – finally received her own shot at a solo title, it was very much on the terms of the times. I must shamefacedly admit to a deep, nostalgic affection for her bright and breezy, fantastically fun adventures, but as a free-thinking, (nominally) adult liberal of the 21st<\/sup> century I’m often simultaneously shocked nowadays at the jolly, patronising, patriarchally misogynistic attitudes underpinning too many of the stories.<\/p>\n Of course I’m (painfully) aware that the series was intended for young readers at a time when \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dizzy dames\u00e2\u20ac\u009d like Lucille Ball<\/strong> or Doris Day<\/strong> played to the popular American gestalt stereotype of Woman as jealous minx, silly goose, diffident wife and brood-hungry nester, but to ask kids to seriously accept that intelligent, courageous, ambitious, ethical and highly capable females would drop everything they’d worked hard for to lie, cheat, inveigle, manipulate and entrap a man just so that they could cook pot-roast and change super-diapers is just plain crazy and tantamount to child abuse. They’re great, great comics but still\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n I’m just saying\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane<\/strong> #1 launched at the start of 1958) and became the regular venue for stunning yarns illustrated by sleek, slick Kurt Schaffenberger whose distinctive art-style would quickly become synonymous with the reporter. In this yarn from the second issue (April\/May) Lois was apparently appalled to uncover ‘Superman’s Secret Sweetheart’<\/em> (possibly written by Bill Finger), but was in fact on her very best mettle, helping a bullied college girl fight back against her mean sorority sisters\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Prince Jon<\/em> then became ‘The Viking Genie’<\/em> (Bill Finger & Joe Kubert from B&B<\/strong> #14 Dec 1958\/Jan 1958) as he is sealed in a barrel by his enemies and washes up some time later on the shores of distant Araby.<\/p>\n Freed from his prison by an old man and his beautiful daughter, the golden-haired Northman uses ingenuity and superb physicality to grant the dotard’s three wishes, consequently unseating a tyrant and restoring the old man to the throne of Baghdad\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Detective Comics<\/strong> #249 (November 1957) was the original setting for Finger & Sheldon Moldoff’s ‘The Crime of Bruce Wayne’<\/em> wherein civic-minded Bruce Wayne<\/em> agrees to Commissioner Gordon’s<\/em> scheme to impersonate masked criminal The Collector<\/em>. Sadly things go badly awry: Gordon is hospitalised and Wayne is sentenced to death, with Robin<\/em> and Batwoman<\/em> frantically trying to find the real Collector before time runs out for the incarcerated, incognito Caped Crusader\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Davy Crockett was then captured by ‘Two Little Paleface Indians’<\/em> (Frontier Fighters<\/strong> #3 Jan Feb 1956, art by Prentice) stolen and raised by the warlike Creek<\/em>. Not only does he have to escape imminent execution but also return the bellicose little waifs to their true parents, after which ‘The Bombshell of the Boulevards’<\/em> (Leo Dorfman & Schaffenberger) sees Lois Lane donning a peroxide wig to deceitfully secure a Hollywood interview.<\/p>\n Apparently blondes not only have more fun but also make more trouble and soon she has provoked a death-duel between rival enflamed suitors. Of course, it was only another scheme by Superman and Jimmy Olsen<\/em> to teach her a lesson in journalistic ethics. Good thing reporters are so much less unscrupulous these days\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n The Viking Prince returns to frozen climes to confront the ‘Threat of the Ice-King’<\/em> (Haney & Kubert from B&B<\/strong> #18, June\/July 1958) and spectacularly rescues a Rose Princess<\/em> from the icy ogre’s legion of arctic monsters before Davy Crockett tackles ‘The Indian Buccaneers’<\/em> (Frontier Fighters<\/strong> #5, May\/June 1956 Prentice) dragooned into raiding Louisiana with infamous pirate Swampfox Cy<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n The weirdly enticing array of adventures ends with charming Public Service ad ‘Don’t Give Fire a Place to Start’ <\/em>by Jack Schiff & Win Mortimer, wrapping up the all-ages fun on a cautionary note every hoarder of highly inflammable collectibles should heed\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Although I’ve been nostalgically self-indulgent and a touch jocund throughout, there’s no denying the merit of these ancient tales, especially since they’re presented in staggeringly powerful and beautifully composed black and white: all marvellous examples of a level of artistic individuality and virtuosity we’re losing today as computer-colour advances and digital shortcuts are increasingly homogenising the craft and design of graphic narrative.<\/p>\n While we’re all revelling in the variety and creative freedom of today’s technology, let’s never forget the sheer force and potent efficiency of the lone line and an artist’s innate sense of flair and individuality. These are things of magical beauty and infinite potential\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n Although there are no copyrights included I think it’s safe to assume: By various (Atlas Publishing & Distributing Co. Ltd.) No ISBN: It took the British a very long time to get the hang of American-style superheroes – just ask any old UK-based fan about Tri-Man, Gadget Man and Gimmick Kid or the Phantom Viking if you doubt me – but we never had any trouble with … <\/p>\n
\nAll material \u00c2\u00a9 1956, 1957, 1958, 2015 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"