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The City: A Vision in Woodcuts


By Frans Masereel (Dover Publications)
ISBN: 978-0-486-44731-5 (TPB/Digital Edition)

We tend to think of graphic novels as being a late 20th century phenomenon, and one that fought long and hard for legitimacy and a sense of worth, but the format was pioneered popularised much earlier in the century… and utilised for the most solemn, serious and worthy purposes.

At the same time as the earliest newspaper strips were being rebound as collected editions, European Fine Artists were addressing the world’s problems in “Wordless Novels”: assembling individual artworks – usually lino or sometimes woodcuts – into narrative sequences which, as the name implies, used images, not dialogue or captions, to tell a story. This also accounts for the other names of the articles – Woodcut Novels/Novels in Woodcut.

The fashion grew out of the German Expressionist movement of the early 20th century which revived and repurposed medieval woodblock printing techniques and even imagery for its own artistic agenda and purposes and was most popular during the 1920s and 1930s. The undisputed master of the form was Flemish artisan Frans Masereel, whose many works were phenomenally popular in German and whose influence spread far and wide – particularly to Depression-era America where Lynd Ward adopted the process for his many sallies against social iniquity, and Giacomo Patri unleashed his anti-capitalist salvo in the wordless novel White Collar as well as comedic parodies such as Milt Gross’ He Done Her Wrong…

Masereel (1899-1972) was born in Blankenberge, Belgium and raised by his stepfather, an avowed socialist. He left home to study art in Paris supporting himself through magazine and newspaper illustration, political cartooning and his earliest woodcut prints. He was also a devout pacifist, refusing to fight in WWI, where he instead acted as a translator for the Red Cross. As a result he was unable to return to his homeland and lived most of his life in Germany, Switzerland and France.

In 1918 he created his first narrative: 25 Images of a Man’s Passion and followed up a year later with his masterpiece Passionate Journey. Masereel crafted more than 40 wordless novels, primarily woodcuts, but also a quartet of traditional pen & brush sagas, plus countless illustrations, commissioned paintings, animation works and more. Always stridently and forcefully defending the ordinary man from the horrors of capitalism, disaster and especially warmongering, his potent ability to hone meaning and capture emotion in singular images influenced generations of artists and cartoonists including Ward, Georg Grosz, Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, Clifford Harper, Eric Drooker, Otto Nückel, Peter Kuper, George Walker and Peter Arno.

The book under review today was first released in 1925 as La Ville: cent bois gravés in France and as Die Stadt in Germany. Originally comprising 100 prints (13cm x 8cm) bound into book form, it quickly became a touchstone for many artists and critics and was hailed as the precursor of a film genre which made environment the focus of narrative (like Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis or Man With a Movie Camera) and subsequently rereleased in 1961, 1972 and 1988 before this definitive 21st century Dover edition.

The City: A Vision in Woodcuts is translated from the German version as produced by Kurt Wolff Verlag AG (Munich 1925): seeking to forego actual sequential narrative by delivering its stark and startling images encapsulating the modern urban existence. Of course, humans being what we are, readers will find themselves unconsciously imposing form on those unfolding, uncompromising extremely explicit images anyway…

The candid exploration encompasses the highest and lowest echelons of society all rubbing up against each other, zeroing in page by page on the emotions, reactions and consequent horrors such friction creates…

There are bawdy entertainments, diligent toil, crimes of all kinds, quiet times almost unnoticed. We see smoke stacks, railway lines, canals, ports, traffic jams, subways and stations. There are rush hour crowds, fights, civil protests and always personal tragedies: accidents, bad births, thefts, affray, rape murder…

Buildings go up and come down, there is rush and rubbish and courtroom drama: vast office regiments, factory lines and foundry creations. Opulence and desperate poverty co-exist, with the exploited, maimed, forgotten and unwanted ignored by those enjoying themselves at all costs. The masses sing, dance, imbibe carouse and even indulge themselves being part of a grand State funeral. Always people come and people go, some for a different life and others to a “better world”…

It’s a place of constant change and the pace never slows… education, celebration and pauses for thought embrace art edification and human degradation on demand but there is also – for the bold and unbroken – a glimmer of hope…

Stirring, evocative and still movingly inspirational as the world returns to those dark days of Haves, Have-Nots and Why-Should-I-Cares?; this magnificent rediscovery is inventive, ferocious in its dramatic delivery, instantly engaging and enraging: a book long overdue for revival and reassessment and one every callous “I’m All Right” Jackass and “Why Should I Pay For Your…” social misanthrope needs to see or be slapped with…
No © asserted.

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Wonder Woman in the Fifties


By Robert Kanigher, John Broome, Harry G. Peter, Ross Andru & Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Arthur Peddy & Bernard Sachs & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-779507-624-6 (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 Batman (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 was recently re-run, with even more inviting samples from the company’s vintage, family-friendly canon.

Gathered here is a menu of deliciously dated delights starring Earth’s most recognisable Female Heroic Ideal, heralded by a time-&-tone-setting Introduction from historian, author and columnist Andy Mangels augmenting each context-stuffed chapter text piece.

With Robert Kanigher as primary writer of record throughout the book, the contents here originated in Sensation Comics #97, 100; Wonder Woman #45, 50, 60, 66, 72, 76, 80, 90, 94-95, 98-105, 107, 108, 750; and All-Star Comics #56, 57 spanning the entire decade whilst attempting to reconcile an indomitable symbol of female emancipation and independence with a post-war world determined to turn them back into docile brood mares and passive uber-consumers…

Wonder Woman was created by polygraph pioneer William Moulton Marston – apparently at the behest of his remarkable wife Elizabeth and their life partner Olive Byrne. The vast majority of the outlandish early adventures were limned by illustrator Harry G. Peter.

The Astounding Amazon debuted in All Star Comics #8 (cover-dated December 1941, and top-selling home of the Justice Society of America) just before launching in her own solo series and cover-spot of new anthology Sensation Comics the following month. She was an instant hit, and gained her own eponymous title in late Spring of that year (Summer 1942).

Using the nom de plume Charles Moulton, Marston & Co scripted all her many and fabulous exploits until his death in 1947, whereupon Kanigher officially took over the writer and editor’s role. The venerable Peter continued until his own death in 1958. Wonder Woman #97 – in April of that year – was his last hurrah and the end of an era.

Supported by a factual briefing, the comics classics commence with The (Many) Origins of Wonder Woman, and the first adjustments to the classic origin tale…

For purposes of comparison, the 1940s saga stated that on a hidden island of immortal super-women, American aviator Steve Trevor of US Army Intelligence crashed to Earth. Near death, he was nursed back to health by young, impressionable Princess Diana.

Fearing her growing obsession with the creature from a long-forgotten, madly violent world, her mother Queen Hippolyte shared the hidden history of the Amazons: how they were seduced and betrayed by men, but rescued by goddess Aphrodite on condition they isolated themselves from the world, devoting their eternal lives to becoming ideal, perfect creatures.

However, when Athena and Aphrodite subsequently instructed Hippolyte to despatch an Amazon with the American to fight for global freedom and liberty and against oppression and barbarism, Diana overcame all other candidates in a brutal open competition to became their emissary – Wonder Woman.

On arriving in America, she purchased the identity and credentials of lovelorn Army nurse Diana Prince, elegantly allowing the Amazon to be close to Steve and the heartsick medic to wed her own fiancé in South America. Diana also joined Army Intelligence as secretary to General Darnell, ensuring she would always be able to watch over her beloved. She little suspected that, although painfully shallow Steve only had eyes for the dazzling Amazon superwoman, the General had fallen for mousy yet superbly competent Lieutenant Prince…

As the decade turned it was deemed time for a refurbished origin and – illustrated by Harry G. Peter – WW #45 (cover-dated January/February 1951) delivered ‘The Wonder Woman Story!’

This found childhood rivals vying for the journalistic kudos of publishing the Amazon’s backstory. However, after a hard-won trip to Paradise Island led to Mary Ellen learning the details of it all – Hercules’s ancient ‘Act of Treachery!’ and how the Princess defied authority for love – all manner of trouble emerged…

Cunning competitor John Lane had bugged Mary’s jewellery and craftily followed her to the Amazon homeland, causing a major upset…

Back then Wonder Woman’s artists were astonishingly faithful and true, staying with her for pretty long hauls. Peter and his uncredited team of female assistants served nearly 20 years before he was let go mere weeks before dying. His replacements Ross Andru & Mike Esposito drew her adventures from 1958 to the middle of 1967 (#98 – 171), and limned this breakthrough tale from WW #105 (April 1959)

The issue debuted Wonder Girl in the ‘‘The Secret Origin of Wonder Woman’, revealing how centuries ago Olympian divinities bestowed unique powers on the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and how – as a mere teenager – the indomitable Diana brought the Amazons to Paradise Island. Continuity – let alone consistency or rationality – were never as important to Kanigher as strong story or breathtaking visuals, and this eclectic odyssey is a great yarn that simply annoyed the heck out of a lot of fans – but not as much as the junior Amazon would in years to come after these teen tales spawned an actual junior Amazon as sidekick to Diana…

That ball started rolling in #107 (July 1959) and proved that the high fantasy exploits of the minor had clearly caught somebody’s editorial fancy. Follow-ups came thick and fast after ‘Wonder Woman Amazon Teen-Ager!’ saw the youngster ensnare an unwanted romantic interest in merboy Ronno, whilst dutifully undergoing a quest to win herself a superhero costume…

Fronted by an article on her legendary kit and illustrated throughout by H.G. Peter, Fashion as Armor: The Equipment List shares some of Kanigher’s frequent and often contradictory exposés on the source and powers of Wonder Woman’s combat gear. It begins with ‘The Secret Story of Wonder Woman’s Lasso!’ (WW #50, November/December 1951), depicting how the princess undertakes three divine tasks to ensure the rope gains magical traits of unbreakability, infinite elasticity and truthful compulsion. Along the way she uses it against crooks, spies, other Amazons, submarines, dinosaurs and a Roc…

That mythological bird, another dinosaur and aliens play a major role in ‘The Talking Tiara!’ (#66, May 1954) as Steve learns how Diana belatedly won possession of her headpiece, a “Linguagraph Tiara” capable of translating any language past present or future, whilst ‘The Secret of Wonder Woman’s Sandals’ (#72, February 1955) reveals some odd characteristics of the footwear as she performs incredible feats (sorry!) to confirm her worthiness…

Cover-dated February 1956 ‘The Origin of the Amazon Plane!’ featured in Wonder Woman #80, recalling a trio of tasks undertaken to collect separated sections of her faithful, invisible robot conveyance before #95 (January 1958) offered ‘The Secret of Wonder Woman’s Tiara!’: this time in the form of a tale told to toddlers, revealing how the hat was a gift from aliens given in thanks for saving them from marauding Phenegs…

Moving on to highlight the Amazon’s noteworthy collaborations, One of the Team offers a trio of tales. The section is a somewhat “Marmite” moment that fans will either love or hate…

The majority of the chapter is devoted to a brace of tales starring the Justice Society of America and, whilst I’m never going to complain about seeing such classics where new readers can discover them, it’s a lot of pages to hand over to a group who had Wonder Woman serving coffee and taking notes as “Club Secretary” for years. At least here, in the last of the original run, she’s graduated to being an leading participant in their adventures…

After the actual invention of the superhero via the 1938 Action Comics debut of Superman, the most significant event in our industry’s history was the combination of individual stars into a like-minded group. Thus, what seems blindingly obvious to us with the benefit of four-colour hindsight was proven: consumers can’t get enough of garishly-hued mystery men, and combining a multitude of characters inevitably increases readership. Plus, of course, a mob of superheroes is just so much cooler than one…or one-and-a-half if there’s a sidekick involved…

The creation of the Justice Society of America in 1941 utterly changed the shape of the budding industry. Following the runaway success of Superman and Batman, both National Comics and its separate-but-equal publishing partner All-American Comics went looking for the next big thing whilst frantically concentrating on getting anthology packages into the hands of a hungry readership. Thus All Star Comics: conceived as a joint venture affording characters already in their respective stables an extra push towards winning elusive but lucrative solo titles.

Technically, All Star Comics #3 (cover-dated Winter 1940-1941 and released in December 1940) was the kick-off, but the mystery men merely had dinner and recounted recent cases and didn’t actually go on a mission together until #4, which had an April 1941 cover-date.

The merits of the marketing project would never be proved: rather than a runaway favourite graduating to their own starring vehicle as a result of the poll, something radically different evolved. For the third issue, prolific scribe Gardner Fox apparently had the bright idea of linking all the solo stories through a framing sequence with the heroes gathering to chat about their latest exploits. With that simple notion that mighty mystery men hung out together, history was made and it wasn’t long before they started working together…

However, after WWII ended, superheroes gradually declined, and most companies had shelved them by 1950. Their plummet in popularity led to a revival in genre-themed titles and characters, and it was a stripped-down team (Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom, Black Canary, Dr. Mid-Nite and Wonder Woman) in contemporarily tailored crime and science fiction sagas before the title abruptly changed into All Star Western with #58.

Both JSA stories were written by John Broome and illustrated via alternating chapters by Frank Giacoia and Arthur Peddy & Bernard Sachs. Leading off is All-Star Comics #56 (December 1950/January 1951) and ‘The Day the World Ended!’ wherein a future scientist goes to extraordinary lengths to recruit the 20th century stalwarts to save Tomorrow’s World from shapeshifting invaders. Issue #57 was the JSA’s last hurrah with ‘The Mystery of the Vanishing Detectives!’ pitting them against criminal mastermind The Key after he abducts Earth’s greatest criminologists in advance of a spectacular robbery spree. Both are great yarns that deserve their own archival volume, but the Amazon’s contributions are barely visible in both…

Of more interest is the Kanigher & Peter tale from Wonder Woman #72 (November 1957). ‘The Channel of Time’ begins as an unashamed plug for The Adventures of Superman TV show, with the Amazon eagerly enjoying the latest episode when interference turns the screen into an SOS through time, displaying old ally Robin Hood in existential peril…

An initial iteration of the legendary archer had debuted in New Adventure Comics #23 (January 1938), and National/DC also acquired Quality Comics’ Robin Hood Tales title. That version had begun in February 1956, with DC continuing the run from #7 (cover-dated February 1957) as well as featuring the hero in Kanigher’s The Brave and the Bold from #5 (May 1956). That was (coincidentally?) the same month The Amazing Amazon first met the Sentinel of Sherwood Forest, who here requires assistance against a dragon, wicked foemen and a shark-infested moat safeguarding evil Prince John…

Seeing Double then highlights the hero’s tendency to encounter copies of herself – everything from evil doppelgangers from parallel universes to weirdly exact robot facsimiles…

When Showcase #4 rekindled the readership’s imagination and zest for masked mystery-men with a second, brand-new iteration of The Flash in 1956, the fanciful floodgates opened wide once more. As well as re-inventing Golden Age stars like Green Lantern and Hawkman, the company consequently updated many hoary survivors like Green Arrow and Aquaman. Also included in the revitalising agenda were the High Trinity: Man of Steel, Caped Crusader and the ever-resilient Princess of Power…

Andru & Esposito had debuted as cover artists 3 issues earlier, but with Wonder Woman #98 they took over the entire comic book as Kanigher reinvented much of the old mythology and tinkered with her origins in ‘The Million Dollar Penny!’ After Athena visits an island of super-scientific immortal women, informing Queen Hippolyta that she must send an emissary and champion of justice to crime-ridden “Man’s World”, the sovereign declares an open competition for the job.

She isn’t surprised when her daughter wins and is given the task of turning a penny into a million dollars in one day – all profits going to children’s charities, of course…

Just as the new Wonder Woman begins her coin chore, American airman Steve Trevor bails out of his malfunctioning jet high above the magically hidden isle, unaware that should any male set foot on Amazon soil the immortals would lose all their powers. Promptly thwarting impending disaster, Diana and Steve then team up to accomplish her task, encountering along the way ‘The Undersea Menace’ before building ‘The Impossible Bridge!’

Following that epic comes the lead from landmark issue #100 (August 1958): a spectacular battle saga commencing with ‘The Challenge of Dimension X!’ as an alternate Earth Wonder Woman competes with the Amazing Amazon for sole rights to the title: all culminating with a deciding bout in ‘The Forest of Giants!’…

No celebration of the fifties could be complete without an exploration of the outdated concept of gainful female employment. With art by Peter, Working 9 to 5: The Careers of Wonder Woman offers a quick peek of typical opportunities beginning with Sensation Comics #97 (May 1950). ‘Wonder Woman, Romance Editor’ sees the Amazon agree to a task no male journalist can handle, solving the woes of lovelorn women seeking husbands, whilst her own duties prevent her giving in to Steve’s increasingly urgent demands to settle down… Cover-dated November 1950, Sensation Comics #100 showcases ‘Wonder Woman, Hollywood Star!’ as the Amazon and Steve endure peerless perils making a movie one crazed glamour queen is determined only she should star in, after which two millionaires make a bet that propels the Amazon into a string of crazy roles culminating in her shepherding an infant T-Rex as ‘Wonder Woman, Amazon Baby Sitter!’ (WW #90, May 1957)…

As you’ve probably ascertained, much of Kanigher’s oeuvre depended on the Princess of Paradise undergoing tasks and tests for a variety of reasons and this voyage of rediscovery concludes with some of the most noteworthy, gathered as The Trials of Wonder Woman…

Leading off is Peter-rendered classic ‘The Secret Olympics!’ (WW #60, July 1953) as Diana justifies her legendary brief as “beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Mercury (sic) and stronger than Hercules”…

 Issue #76 (August 1955) introduces ‘The Bird Who Revealed Wonder Woman’s Identity!’ before Diana devises a way to undermine a gabby Mynah’s proclamations before Andru & Esposito assume the art duties for the remainder of the book, beginning with ‘Top Secret!’ from Wonder Woman #99 (July 1958).

Introducing the Hellenic Hero’s new covert identity as Air Force Intelligence officer Lt. Diana Prince the tale opens a decade of tales with Steve perpetually attempting to uncover her identity and make the most powerful woman on Earth his blushing bride, whilst his bespectacled, glorified secretary stands unnoticed, exasperated and ignored right beside – or slightly behind – him…

Here that means attempting to trick her into marriage with a rigged bet – a tactic the creep tried a lot back then – after which ‘Wonder Woman’s 100th Anniversary!’ (WW #100 again) deals with the impossibility of capturing the far-too-fast and furious Amazon’s exploits on film for Paradise Island’s archives…

In #101 (October 1958), ‘Undersea Trap!’ sees Steve tricking his “Angel” into agreeing to marry him if she has to rescue him three times in 24 hours (just chalk it up to simpler times, or you’ll pop a blood vessel, OK?) after which January 1959 and WW #103 spotlight ‘The Wonder Woman Album!’ returning to the previously explored “impossible-to-photograph” theme, before we close on ‘Wanted… Wonder Woman’ (#108, August 1959), as Flying Saucer aliens frame her for heinous crimes as a precursor to a planetary invasion but are not smart enough to realise when they are being played…

Also including a selection of breathtaking covers by Irwin Hasen & Sachs, Irv Novick, Peddy and Andru & Esposito plus a Bonus Cover Gallery by the latter pair, this is a fascinating but potentially charged tome. By modern standards these exuberant, effulgent fantasies are all-out crazy, but as examples of the days when less attention was paid to continuity and concepts of shared universes and adventure in the moment were paramount, these outrageous romps simply sparkle with fun, thrills and sheer spectacle -a s long as you keep in mind the outrageous undercurrent of blatant sexism underpinning it all. This was a period when – officially – only men could tell the tales of the Amazing Amazon…

Wonder Woman is rightly revered as a focal point of female strength, independence and empowerment, but the welcoming nostalgia and easy familiarity of these costumed fairy tales remain a delight for all open-minded readers with the true value of these exploits being the incredible quality of entertainment they provide.
© 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 2020, DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Luisa: Now and Then


By Carole Maurel, adapted by Mariko Tamaki & translated by Nanette McGuiness (Humanoids/Life Drawn)
ISBN: 978-1-59465-643-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Beguiling Fantasy Unwrapped… 9/10

The concept of time travel is infinitely appetising and irresistibly seductive. The literary conceit offers limitless potential for stories ranging from colossal cosmic Armageddons to last-chance salvation gambits; all of history and the imagination as playground and stage; the use of past and future as a Petrie dish for social satire and cultural exploration, and even fantastical magical quests course-correcting lives and providing deeply personal, painfully intimate second chances for the confused, bewildered or simply lovelorn.

Luisa, Ici et là is one of the latter: a compelling and beguiling small story and little miracle by Carole Maurel that first appeared in 2016 and finds us English-speakers courtesy of Humanoid’s Life Drawn imprint.

It’s a sweet and oft-told tale given a stylish and welcoming contemporary gloss thanks to its wonderfully engaging lead character(s) who transforms a regulation coming-of-age parable into a heart-warming plea for understanding and – where necessary – forgiveness.

It begins as 15-year old Luisa Arambol gets off a bus. Exhausted and frustrated by discord at home in Chartres, she’s fallen asleep, missed her stop and awoken in Paris. She’s not aware of it yet, but she’s also journeyed from 1995 to 2013…

Across town, 33-year old Luisa Arambol is bitching to friend and workmate Farid. He’s heard it all before: the job sucks, she’s getting old, she drinks too much and has accomplished nothing. Worst of all, yet another man didn’t work out…

After panicking whilst trying to buy a phonecard – even the money is different here and everyone has a phone in their pocket now! – young Luisa is rescued by concerned observer Sasha who tries to help out the increasingly distressed kid. The child wants to ring her mother but cannot get through and is spiralling…

Hearing her talk and seeing what she’s wearing and carrying, Sasha soon suspects something incredible has occurred. After all, what teenager doesn’t recognise a computer tablet?

A quiet chat stabilises the kid long enough for Sasha to learn that Luisa has an aunt living in the same building she’s just moved into. It turns out Aurelia Arambol’s fifth floor flat is directly opposite Sasha’s new home, but it’s no longer occupied by the odd, ostracised single lady nobody back home will ever talk about. Little Luisa gets a big shock when that door opens and she meets her world-weary, dream-crushed, spinster older self.

Moreover, both versions instantly and instinctively realise who the other is…

Once upon a time an ambitious schoolgirl had dreams of being an art photographer but life has whittled that dream down to something far more mundane. Full grown her was left the flat by Aurelia – for reasons she still can’t fathom – and her spiky, frosty, naturally defensive state is inexplicably heightened by Sasha. Despite herself, older Luisa can’t stop staring at her new neighbour, even taking covert pictures of her, and is deeply troubled by an erotic dream featuring her…

When the object of her fascination is abruptly called away, Luisa reluctantly takes charge of the underage runaway and the situation worsens. Shared stories of mutual pasts and futures take a wild turn as aspects of their so-different personalities begin to transfer. Now-Luisa rediscovers her endless, long-vanished joie-de vivre and party spirit – and even 20-20 vision – and seems to look younger every day, just as Then-Luisa becomes sullen, responsibility-burdened, grey-haired, morose and short-sighted. Moreover, when they touch, their bodies seem to merge and coalesce…

And so begins a clash of wills and resolution of long-unfinished business found to have started on the day teen Luisa cruelly spurned an innocently impulsive overture from “out” and persecuted classmate Lucy.

That event was exacerbated by increased bullying at school and brutally reinforced at home by her own mother’s rigorous rejection of such shocking deviant behaviour as utterly unnatural, sparking a decades-long crusade to find Luisa a man…

Confused and upset, little Luisa acted up, got on a bus and ended up now while her older self just lived a lie for years…

The merging and trading of characteristics lends urgency to affairs before a long-deferred and dreaded confrontation with the Luisas’ mother generates surprising revelations about Aurelia, exposes the unknown fate of Lucy and prompts a complete revision of those attitudes that have shaped and repressed the modern-day doppelganger…

Addressing her family’s ingrained bigotry and intolerance and at last acknowledging and accepting she doesn’t just like boys or have to settle for a man is merely the first step in Luisa’s reunification and readjustment, auguring massive changes for all and forever that will begin when her fresher self at last boards a bus for home…

Refreshingly honest, charmingly blunt and captivatingly funny whist maintaining a sensitive neutrality of opinion – or prejudice – over sexuality and choices, Luisa: Now and Then sparkles with wit and charm: a sophisticated yet simple saga of self-examination that will delight all who read it, embracing the fanciful whimsy of cinema classics like The Enchanted Cottage or the Peter Ustinov’s 1948 film Vice Versa.
Luisa, Ici et là © 2016 La Boîte à Bulles et Carole Maurel. All rights reserved.

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Cyclops volume 2: A Pirate’s Life for Me


By John Layman, Javier Garrón, Chris Sotomayor, & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9076-9 (TPB/Digital edition)

When mutant genius Henry McCoy learned he was dying, he used time-travel tech in a last-ditch attempt to give his life meaning. Seeking to prevent an inter-species war, he brought the young, naïve X-Men of his own youth into the future to reason with his radicalised former comrade Scott Summers, praying the still idealistic and hopeful teens could divert Mutant Enemy Terrorist No. 1 from his path of doctrinaire madness…

The gamble paid off in all the wrong ways. Rather than shocking modern day Cyclops back to his senses, the confrontation hardened the renegade’s heart and strengthened his resolve. Moreover, after McCoy the younger somehow cured his older self, he and the rest of the X-Kids were trapped in their own future and began gradually defecting to the fundamentalist team…

Eventually, the temporally-misplaced First Class ended up living with the elder Cyclops’ crew, but everything changed after Gladiator of the Shi’ar realised Jean Grey AKA Marvel Girl – and future host of the cosmic force known as the Phoenix – was back. The alien emperor rashly attempted to abduct and execute her for the crimes of her older self, but his insane pre-emptive punishment plan was foiled by an assembly of X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy and intergalactic buccaneers Hepzibah, Ch’od, Raza Longknife, Korvus and insectoid medical wizard Sikorsky – collectively known as The Starjammers.

During the sideral shenanigans, 16-year-old Scott met his long-believed-dead dad. Now going by Corsair and undisputed leader of the cosmic privateers, Christopher Summers invited his boy to stay behind when the mutant heroes returned to Earth…

Enduring and barely surviving a steep learning curve to become a full-blooded galactic buccaneer whilst forging bonds of comradeship with the exotic crew, Scott eventually takes off with his dad for some true father-son time only to discover Corsair’s darkest secret whilst being marooned on a desolate planetoid.

Facing slow death, Cyclops devises a way off but it’s possibly worse than being eaten by the mudball world’s predatory lifeforms…

Scripted by John Layman, illustrated by Javier Garrón and coloured by Chris Sotomayor, this compendium collects issues #6-12 of Cyclops: (December 2014-June 2015), following the chronal castaway into emotional typhoons and universe-shredding crises before making safe harbour back on Earth…

It begins with the Summers family back aboard the Starjammer with the kid geekily seeking to impress his crewmates. His eagerness leads to disaster and the ship’s ambush by master star pirate Captain Malafect of the mighty vessel Desolation. Outgunned, outnumbered and seemingly helpless, Corsair savagely turns on his son, beating and denouncing him…

When the triumphant villain maroons the Starjammers to die a slow death in a lifepod, he keeps Scott as his newest recruit and Corsair just so’s he can torment and torture his old shipmate…

Soon the kid is learning the darkest sides of space pillaging, and it’s all he can do to keep the bodycount low. His squeamishness and eagerness to please doesn’t initially endear him to his new shipmates either, but he gradually befriends some of them. Pretending to torture Corsair helps his standing but the real turnabout comes after Captain’s daughter Vileena decides she really likes the “Pirate Boy”…

The X-Man Cyclops was regarded as one of the most brilliant tacticians ever born and now his timeslipped junior self proves that gift came early as the complex long game he initiated when the Starjammer was first taken begins to pay off.

As his marooned former shipmates are picked up by slavers, he leads a (relatively bloodless) raid and acquires a Shi’ar super-weapon dubbed a “starcracker”, endearing him further to Malefect and Vileena whilst losing forever the leader of the crew faction intent on killing him…

Riding high in the buccaneer’s regard, Scott leads an away mission whilst the Captain seeks to sell the ultimate weapon leading to the liberation of his father and an all-out war that pits his new friends against his old crew. In the end, it can only end in disaster and tragedy…

Rightly, the tale should end here, but also included is the final issue which was the tenth instalment of publishing event Black Vortex (Cyclops #12; June 2015). The story detailed how many of Marvel’s space-based heroes and villains became embroiled in the quest to possess a cosmic mirror that bestowed infinite power on any who used it.  Prior to this chapter, Scott reunited with his X-Men as a mystery opponent named Mr. Knife out-manoeuvred the Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova, Captain Marvel and many more…

Now reunited with his school chums and on the run again Scott sacrifices himself – as do Iceman and Groot – to the Black Vortex, hoping the resultant power-hike will help their friends before ultimately corrupting them…

Unfortunately, readers won’t learn the answer here, as we conclude with a feature on Garrón & Sotomayor’s process for turning drawings into full colour art , leaving us to the seas of fate and another collection for answers and culmination…

With covers & variants gallery by Alexander Lozano and Andrea Sorrentino, this is – despite my cavils and quibbles – a thrilling, heart-warming, funny and astoundingly action-packed romp. Cyclops: A Pirate’s Life For Me combines cosmic intrigue and dashing derring-do with solid characterisation and wild blue yonder wonderment, and will delight any fan of cosmically light-hearted Marvel Movies like Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor: Love and Thunder. What more could any wide-eyed, entertainment-starved child of the wondering stars want?
© 2014 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. 2021 MARVEL

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Mighty Samson Archives volume one


By Otto Binder & Frank Thorne & various (Dark Horse Comics) 
ISBN: 978-1-59582-579-7 (HB) 

These days all the attention in comics circles goes to big-hitters and headline-grabbing ground-breakers, but once upon a time, when funnybooks were cheap as well as plentiful, a kid (whatever their age) could afford to follow the pack and still find time and room to enjoy quirky outliers: B through Z listers, oddly off-kilter concepts and champions far falling outside the accepted parameters of standard super-types… 

A classic example of that exuberant freedom of expression was the relatively angst-free dystopian tomorrow of Mighty Samson, who had a sporadic yet extended comics career of 32 issues spanning 1964 to 1982. 

Although set in the aftermath of an atomic Armageddon, the story of the survivors was a blend of updated myth, pioneer adventure and superhero shtick, liberally leavened with variations of the incredible creatures and sci fi monsters the industry thrived on back then. 

Comics colossus Dell/Gold Key/Whitman had one of the most complicated publishing set-ups in history, but that didn’t matter one iota to kids of all ages who consumed their vastly varied product. Based in Racine, Wisconsin, Whitman had been a crucial component of monolithic Western Publishing and Lithography Company since 1915: drawing upon huge commercial resources and industry connections that came with editorial offices on both coasts. They even boasted a subsidiary printing plant in Poughkeepsie, New York. 

Another connection was with fellow Western subsidiary K.K. Publications (named for licensing legend Kay Kamen who facilitated extremely lucrative “license to print money” merchandising deals for Walt Disney Studios between 1933 and 1949). From 1938, the affiliated companies’ comic book output was released under a partnership deal with a “pulps” periodical publisher under the umbrella imprint Dell Comics – and again those creative staff and commercial contacts fed into the line-up of the Big Little, Little Golden and Golden Press books for younger children. This partnership ended in 1962 and Western had to swiftly reinvent its comics division as Gold Key. 

Western Publishing had been a major player since comics’ earliest days, blending a huge tranche of licensed titles including newspaper strips, TV tie-in and Disney titles (like Nancy and Sluggo, Tarzan and The Lone Ranger) with in-house originations such as Turok, Son of Stone, Brain Boy and Kona: Monarch of Monster Isle. 

Dell and Western split just as a comic book resurgence triggered a host of new titles and companies, and a superhero boom. Independent of Dell, new outfit Gold Key launched original adventure titles including Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom; Magnus – Robot Fighter; M.A.R.S. Patrol – Total War; Space Family Robinson and many more. 

As a publisher, Gold Key never really “got” the melodramatic, frequently mock-heroic Sturm und Drang of the 1960s superhero boom – although for many of us, the understated functionality of classics like Magnus and Doctor Solar or the crime-fighting iterations of classic movie monsters Dracula, Frankenstein and Werewolf were utterly irresistible. The sheer off-the-wall lunacy of features like Neutro or Dr. Spektor I will reserve for a future occasion… 

This superb first full-colour hardback compilation – printed on a reassuringly sturdy and comforting grainy old-school pulp stock rather than glossy paper – gathers the first half dozen issues of Mighty Samson, as anonymously created by industry giants Otto Binder & Frank Thorne. It even includes some monochrome single-page fact-features and the mesmerising painted covers by unsung master illustrators Morris Gollub and George Wilson. 

These covers were reproduced text-free on the back of each issue and probably graced many a kid’s bedroom wall way back when. You get those too, but I’d suggest scanners rather than scissors this time around… 

Otto Binder was a quintessential jobbing writer. He and his brother Earl were early fans of science fiction, making their first professional sale to Amazing Stories in 1930. As “Eando Binder” their pulp-fiction and novels output continued well into the 1970s, with Otto rightly famed for his creation of primal robotic hero Adam Link. 

From 1939 onwards, Otto was also a prolific comic book scripter, most beloved and revered for the invention and perfection of a humorous blend of spectacular action, self-deprecating humour and gentle whimsy as characterised by the Fawcett Captain Marvel line of titles (and later in DC’s Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen). Binder was also constantly employed by many other publishers and amongst his most memorable inventions and innovations are Timely’s Young Allies, Mr. Mind, Brainiac, Krypto the Super Dog and the Legion of Super-Heroes.  

In his later life, he moved into editing, producing factual science books and writing for NASA. 

Frank Thorne was one of the most individualistic talents in American comics. Born in 1930, he began his comics career drawing romance stories for Standard Comics beside the legendary Alex Toth before graduating to better-paid newspaper strips, such as Perry Mason for King Features Syndicate. For Dell/Gold Key he drew comic book classics Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim and The Green Hornet, as well as the first few years of this seminal sci-fi classic. 

For DC he did compelling work on Tomahawk and Son of Tomahawk before being hired by Roy Thomas at Marvel to illustrate his belated breakthrough strip Red Sonja. Forever-after connected with feisty, earthy, highly sexualised women, in 1978 Thorne created outrageously bawdy (some say vulgar) swordswoman Ghita of Alizarr for Warren’s adult science fantasy anthology 1984/1994 as well as such adult satirical strips as Moonshine McJugs for Playboy and Danger Rangerette for National Lampoon.  

Thorne eventually won the National Cartoonists Award for comic books, an Inkpot Award and a Playboy Editorial Award, but was still a fairly by-the-book illustrator at the time of this collection’s content. In fact, it was on Mighty Samson that he opened up and found his own unique artistic vision: one which would carry him to the forefront of stylists with the satirical and erotic works of his later years. 

That’s meat for other reviews, but here the creators combine to craft a beguiling otherworld of action, adventure and drama suitable for most kids of all ages and a milieu which would be perfectly at home today on any Kids channel… 

The strip, its merits and the incredible careers of its originators are fully and lovingly discussed by Dylan Williams in his Foreword ‘The Mighty Samson Comics of Frank Thorne and Otto Binder’, and there are full ‘Creator Biographies’ at the end of the book, but what really matters is the sublime yarns reprinted between those points: no-nonsense, high-fantasy yarns at once self-contained, episodic, exciting, enticing and deceptively witty. 

Following the first magnetic painted cover from Gollub, the eponymous ‘Mighty Samson’ (#1, July 1964) introduces the bombed out former metropolis of N’Yark: a dismal dangerous region where human primitives cling to the ruins, striving daily against mutated plants and monsters and less easily identified blends somewhere in between… 

A remarkable occurrence begins one day when a toddler is grabbed by a predatory plant and casually tears the terror apart with his podgy little hands. Years pass and the child grows tall and clean-limbed, and it’s clear that he too is a mutant: immensely strong, fast and durable… 

Impassioned by his mother’s dying words – “protect the weak from the powerful, the good from the evil” – Samson becomes the champion of his people, battling the beasts and monsters imperilling the city. Sadly, these struggles are not without cost, such as when he kills the immense Liobear, but loses his right eye in the struggle… 

The clash proves a turning point in his life as his terrible wounds are dressed by a stranger named Sharmaine. She and her father Mindor are voluntary outcasts in the city: shunning contact with superstitious tribes whilst gathering lost secrets of science.  

They are striving to bring humanity out of its second stone age and, fired with inspiration, Samson agrees to join in their self-appointed mission: defending them from all threats as they carry out their work. 

There were generally two complete adventures per issue, and the quest continues in ‘Ancient Weapon’ as the trio’s scavenging leads them through a gauntlet of horrendous mutant monsters to an ancient armoury where sagacious Mindor deciphers the secrets of sticks which kill from a distance. Unfortunately, the discovery is observed by brutal warlord Kull the Killer who takes Sharmaine hostage to seize control of the rediscovered death-technology. Thankfully, the tyrant and his warriors never suspect Samson is as clever as he is strong… 

It was nearly a year until a second issue was released (#2, June 1965), but when it finally arrived it was at full throttle. ‘The Riddle of the Raids’ sees the wandering science nomads buzzed by a flying saucer which proves to be the vehicle of choice of a new arch foe. Terra is an exotic mystery woman possessing many lost technological secrets who has emerged after years underground in a bunker from the old world. Her store of atomic batteries finally exhausted, she begins raiding across the toxic, monster-infested Huzon River from the wastelands of Jerz, and quickly recruits Kull to her cause. However, even working in unison they are no match for Mighty Samson and once he drives them off, aged Mindor is able to add greatly to mankind’s store of recovered knowledge… 

Intent on uncovering the truth about ‘The Maid of Mystery’, Samson makes the perilous excursion across the devastated George Washington Bridge to invade Terra’s subterranean fortress in Jerz. Although faced with Kull’s monstrous minions and captured, the one-eyed hero soon escapes, but not before making a lasting impression on the evil empress of forgotten lore… 

More lost secrets emerge in #3 (September 1965) after the atomic archaeologists unearth ‘Peril from the Past’. Dr. John Pitt was working in an atomic bunker when the civilisation ended, somehow falling into suspended animation before being revived by jubilant Mindor. 

Determined to glean everything possible from the shaken survivor, his hopes are continually dashed as a geological accident in an old chemical factory threatens N’Yark with toxic clouds of radioactive poison. However, as the reawakened chemist works with his rescuers to end the threat, Sharmaine suspects the old-worlder is hiding something… 

The tragic truth about Pitt comes out as he and Samson begin ‘The Desperate Mission’ to snuff out the source of the death cloud, but it is only a prelude to a greater, final loss… 

With Mighty Samson #4 (December 1965), the turbulent world of tomorrow expanded exponentially as N’Yark endured raids by post-apocalyptic Vikings from pastoral paradise Greelynd. Barbaric despot Thorr leads ‘The Metal Stealers’ in stripping the ruins of all its scrap alloys; sailing them to a distant Nordic castle where he has rediscovered the processes of smelting and forging. 

Samson doggedly tracks him across unknown oceans, not just because he has stolen the city’s heritage and vital resources, but also because the reaver kidnapped Sharmaine and seemingly turned Mindor’s head with promises of technological resources and total freedom to experiment… 

Of course, all is not as it seems and when Samson invades Thorr’s ‘Sinister Stronghold’ to battle the tyrant’s legion of monsters, idealistic Mindor’s seeming compliance is revealed as a clever scheme to defeat the resource raider… 

Returned to their shattered home, the allies are helpless against the mounting radioactive peril of ‘The Death Geysers’ (#5, March 1966) erupting from beneath the city. With large portions of N’Yark now no-go areas, hope apparently materialises in the form of Vaxar: a newcomer versed in science, whom Samson rescues from a voracious “Gulping Blob”. The stranger eagerly joins their efforts to neutralise the geyser menace, but the researcher’s every invention is countered by monstrous, bestial mutant Oggar who is every inch Samson’s physical equal… 

Once again, clear-headed Sharmaine is the one who deduces the truth about ‘The Double Enemy’ in their midst and, as Vaxar’s terrible secret is exposed, awesome natural forces combine with a most terrifying artefact of recovered weaponry to end the threat of both Oggar and the geysers… 

These utterly accessible, exultant and exuberant romps conclude in this volume with a sop to the then-escalating “space race” between Russia and the USA. Issue #6 (June 1966) opens with N’Yark bombarded by ‘The Sinister Satellites’ of a forgotten era, haphazardly crashing to earth around the city. Consulting his preciously-hoarded records, Mindor ascertains they are lost technology he simply must possess, but finds himself in deadly contention with Terra of Jerz for the fallen stars. 

None too soon, suspicious Samson and Sharmaine discover the evil queen of science is actually pulling the satellites out of the skies with a magnetic cannon, but as they move to stop her, an unintended consequence of her meddling unleashes ‘The Monster from Space’ growing uncontrollably and soon set to devour the entire continent should Mighty Samson not find some way to kill it… 

This excellent tome has one last treat in store, as a brace of monochrome pictorial fact features – also illustrated by Thorne – reveal a few salient facts about the iconic Empire State Building in ‘The Mighty Tower’ and ‘The World’s Tallest’, both originally produced as frontispieces for the advert-free original comic books. 

Bizarre, action-packed and fabulously bombastic, Binder’s modern myth of a rationalist Hercules battling atom-spawned Titans and devils is a stunning spectacle of thrill-a-minute wonderment from start to finish, with artist Thorne visibly shaking off his artistic chains on every succeeding page. These tales are lost gems from an era when fun was paramount and entertainment a mandatory requirement. This is comics the way they were and really should be again… 
Mighty Samson ® Volume One ™ & © 2010 Random House, Inc. Under license to Classic Media LCC. All rights reserved. All other material, unless otherwise specified, © 2010 Dark Horse Comics, Inc. All rights reserved

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Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis

By Ted Humberstone (Avery Hill Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-910395-69-1 (HB)

I’m sure by now you have realised that history is utterly filled with women we apparently can’t stop talking about quickly enough. Happily, the medium of comics is one area where we’re digging deeper and revealing obscured accounts of past giants to make vibrant new stories about. Here’s a particularly poignant one that actually qualifies as living memory for many, yet is about a wonder woman so many have literally never heard of…

…And it’s not like these stories are hidden away where none can find them: it’s simply a case of invisibility by tacit omission, WG Grace died in 1915 and Don Bradman played his final Test Match in 1948, but I grew up with – and still hear – their names cited at every modern meeting.

For years Suzanne’s near-contemporary Fred Perry was downplayed if not actually excluded from the history books and media celebration before being reclaimed as a “Great” (politics: you should look him up too, and see how he was mostly rediscovered by the simple expedient of being the last Brit to win a Wimbledon title until 2013!).

For so many stars like Suzanne, it’s hard not to consider a conspiracy of silence was at play amongst previous generations of pundits and sports writers…

This torrid hardback tome opens with a handy diagrammatic guide to the rules of Lawn Tennis before we trace in a carefully audited and beautifully visualised manner episodes of a truly unique individual’s life.

In Paris in 1938, fading American tennis star Bunny Ryan visits an old friend. Her great friend and colleague is dying of the undiagnosable mystery ailment that has plagued her entire life, but which never prevented her from becoming the greatest woman player in history. Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was born on May 24th 1899 and would die in July 1938. In between, she courted controversy, lived life her way, embraced personal and career scandal, and changed the course of Lawn Tennis.

Her accomplishments were truly astounding. Between 1912 and her death, Suzanne won 241 titles, enjoyed a 181 match-winning streak, was World Number One for 8 years and held a 341-7 match record, but that is only the tip of this social and sporting iceberg…

Our examination truly begins in Nice in 1908, when Suzann’s father Charles observed a (men’s) tennis match and realised the attention and approbation the players basked in. At this time, the pastime was a rich man’s diversion: strictly amateur status with nothing but “expenses” paid to the gentry who indulged in it. There was a thriving women’s game too, but this also was more freak show than serious sport.

Lenglen was an athletic child who loved dance, and the family was comfortable with inherited wealth. Had her older brother not died, her life might have been utterly different, but her father then and there decided that his remaining offspring would be greatest tennis player who ever lived…

How his ruthless ambition shaped the life of sporting superstar who broke all the rules is tantalisingly outlined in snapshots of Suzanne’s life: the men who shaped her career, rare friendships (usually men and women connected to the rarefied world of tennis) and particularly her rebellions.

Suzanne refused to play in corsets, ultimately liberating all female players and pioneering a dashing, vigorous, aggressive style of play. Keenly understanding that she was a centre of attention, she had a clothes designer create a string of daring costumes that forged today’s link between sports and fashion. She drank alcohol between sets, partied hard and won match after match.

Dubbed “the Maid Marvel” by the all-male press that she developed an increasingly hostile relationship with, her personal life consisted of dazzling success, broken by recurring periods of debilitating illness no doctors could understand of properly treat. The only thing that caused temporary remissions was the next tournament…

Possibly her greatest achievement began after an exhibition tour of America in 1921. Here, in the shadow of Prohibition, she met financier Charles Pyle and was asked for the first time to consider becoming a professional player. At this juncture tennis was a sacrosanct, pure and “amateur” game with all rewards and inducements being “under the counter”. Only the clubs like Wimbledon and Nice or the newspapers made any sordid profit from players efforts and labours, whilst the rulers of her country’s Tennis Federation even tried to sabotage her with patriotic nonsense, demanding that she only play doubles matches with French nationals rather than her preferred (and equally triumphant) Bunny Ryan.

In 1926, her eventual acquiescence to Pyle’s offer to join his American league and go on a world tour – brought on by her advancing age and Charles Lenglen’s financial losses – saw her ostracised and exiled from the circuit she had dominated for decades, but also paved the way for fair and equitable remuneration of tennis players, rather than the glad-handing rewards and mutable generosity of being exploited by the rich and privileged…

Rather than a straight catalogue of events and assessment of achievement, this examination is carefully fictionalised and massaged to capture what Suzanne Lenglen may have been. Unwell or unstoppable, confused, angry and always desperately seeking to please her father and still be herself, this bright, breezy account of Suzanne details appalling treatment, but succeeds in painting the Goddess of the Courts as a triumphant survivor and not a victim, thanks as much to the astonishingly engaging and open drawing style of the biographer as an astute appreciation of the times and the players involved.

The revelatory saga also includes an Introduction from founding co-secretary of the Women’s Tennis Association and International Tennis Hall of Famer Françoise Dürr; Thank Yous, Foot Notes and a list of Further Reading, and comes courtesy of staggeringly gifted Scottish cartoonist Tom Humberstone (Doctor Who, Nelson, Solipsistic Pop) and publisher Avery Hill.

You should buy all their books and, if you want more of similar, after buying this you could also check out publishers such as SelfMadeHero, Myriad, NBM and so many more outfits seeking to correct the historical balance through informative entertainments.

Trust me, you can’t lose…

© 2022 Tom Humberstone.

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Doctor Who Graphic Novel volume 3: The Tides of Time


By Steve Parkhouse, Dave Gibbons, Dez Skinn, Paul Neary, Mick Austin, Steve Dillon & various (Panini Books)
ISBN: 978-1-904159-92-6 (Album TPB)

The British love comic strips and they love celebrity and they love “Characters.” The history of our homegrown graphic narrative has a peculiarly disproportionate number of comedians (stage, screen and radio), Variety stars, general celluloid icons and all manner of television actors both in and out of character. This includes such disparate legends as Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Askey, Flanagan & Allen, Shirley Eaton (“The Modern Miss”), Max Bygraves, Jimmy Edwards, Charlie Drake, and so many more; all dead and mostly forgotten.

As much adored and adapted were actual shows and properties like Whacko!, ITMA, Our Gang (a British version of Hal Roach’s film sensation by Dudley Watkins ran in The Dandy as well as the American comicbook series by Walt Kelly), Old Mother Riley, Andy Pandy Muffin the Mule, Supercar, Thunderbirds, Pinky and Perky, The Clangers and more.

Hugely popular anthology comics like Radio Fun, Film Fun, TV Fun, TV Tornado, Look-In, TV Comic and Countdown translated our viewing and listening favourites into pictorial joy every week, and it was a pretty poor star or show that couldn’t parley the day job into a licensed comic property…

Doctor Who premiered on black-&-white televisions across Britain on November 23rd 1963 with the first episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’ and in 1964 a decades-long association with TV Comic began: issue #674 offered the premier instalment of ‘The Klepton Parasites’…

On 11th October 1979 (although adhering to the US off-sale cover-dating system so it says 17th), Marvel’s UK subsidiary launched Doctor Who Weekly. It regenerated into a monthly magazine in September 1980 (#44) and has been with us – under various names and guises – ever since. proving that the Time Lord is a comic hero with an impressive pedigree.

Panini’s UK division (formerly Marvel UK until 1995) endeavoured to collect every strip from its tenure as publisher into a compete archive in a uniform series of oversized graphic albums, each concentrating on a particular incarnation of the deathless wanderer. This particular tome was first released in 2005, collecting strips from Doctor Who Monthly #61-83 and #86-87 plus a bonus story from Doctor Who Weekly #17-18 spanning February 1982 to April 1984 and featuring the complete comics oeuvre of the “Fifth Doctor” as played by Peter Davidson.

With Steve Parkhouse scripting and increasingly in-demand Dave Gibbons still illustrating – albeit not for much longer as America called and global stardom beckoned – ‘The Tides of Time’ opens proceedings with a spectacular epic pulling together threads from previous strip exploits, as multiversal control mechanism The Event Synthesizer is compromised and its attendant guardian The Prime Mover assaulted and ousted by demonic intruder Melanicus.

Built to harmonise the flow of time into a single logical sequence, under the demon’s control the device begins randomising time and wrecking reality…

Meanwhile on Earth in the putative Now, a certain wandering Gallifreyan steps out to bat on a warm afternoon in a village cricket match.

Play suddenly stops when the ball turns into a live grenade halfway to the wicket! Total chaos ensues and the Doctor investigates, incidentally befriending and dragging along displaced medieval knight Sir Justin when irresistibly summoned to a conclave of “higher evolutionaries”: advanced beings such as Gallifrey’s original Master of Time Rassilon, and other sublime and elevated members of the Celestial Intervention Agency who despatch him to deal with the salvo of time-warps Melanicus has unleashed to unmake existence.

Aided – at first unknowingly – by Rassilon’s secondary agent Shayde (a complex program given form to match his function), The Doctor and Justin travel beyond time and reality to encounter bizarre and fantastic things before finally ending the demon’s reign of chaos…

In the aftermath as existence resets itself The Doctor returns to his cricket match and a waiting game…

Doctor Who Monthly #68-69 featured Gibbons’ final work on the feature as seeming standalone tale ‘Stars Fell on Stockbridge’ laid the groundwork for the rest of this Gallifreyan incarnation’s tenure whilst introducing local UFO nut and fantasist skywatcher Maxwell Edison who stumbles across a true alien and shares his TARDIS on the voyage of a lifetime.

Sadly, it intersects with an incredible ancient starship and awakens something incomprehensible before breaking up and raining down as fireworks over the sleepy British town…

Parkhouse pencilled the opening episodes of ‘The Stockbridge Horror’ in #70-75 before his inker Paul Neary was joined by Mick Austin for a dazzling mystery that opened when the local quarry blasted open a sheet of rock five hundred million years old to find a perfect fossilised impression of an old police box…

News of it ruined The Doctor’s breakfast in Stockbridge and precipitated a chase across creation: uncovering the horrifying fact that his TARDIS was increasingly rebellious and dysfunctional due to having been possessed and parasitized. It took a voyage across, between and beyond universes and a total rebuild to fix the problem and demanded a supreme sacrifice from Shayde…

It also brought the wanderer to the attention of Gallifrey’s shamefully opportunistic Military and caused another show trial of the Time Lord before honour could be restored and the parasite – which had gone on to shape all human history – was dealt suitably with. All that was left was to institute a cover-up on Earth, but the Time Lords were to slow and not thorough enough and some details remained in the hands of the UK’s S.A.G.3 unit: a covert squad of super-powered intelligence operatives…

In dire need of a vacation, the Doctor goes fishing in the tropics, but his downtime at the ‘Lunar Lagoon’ in #76-77 (all art by Austin) is marred when he’s captured by a Japanese soldier who doesn’t realise the war has ended. As he gradually befriends confused hold-out Fuji, his gentle therapy is short-circuited by an America warplane strafing the TARDIS before being shot down by Japanese planes!

Due to the Gallifreyan’s misguided interference, confusion follows tragedy as the American flier kills Fuji leading into epic follow-up serial ‘4-Dimensional Vistas’ (DWM #78-83) as the pilot reveals that the date is 1963 and the war never ended. In shock, The Doctor realises he has been on an alternate Earth since the Time Lords released him and offers Angus “Gus” Goodman a chance to escape the conflict forever…

After travelling back to a point when the world was still roiling stardust, the Doctor finally finds “his” Earth, in time to finish the secret mission that first found him playing a waiting game in Stockbridge. In the Arctic, another airliner is brought down and its remnants added to a long-running secret project instigated by Martian Ice Warriors and a hidden ally. Using stolen Gallifreyan technology a traitor Time Lord has been creating an ultimate weapon for the military maniacs, but had not reckoned on a last-ditch assault by the super-agents of S.A.G.3, and more interference from old enemy The Doctor. Although ultimately successful, the brutal battle at the top of the world is only won at great cost…

An era ended and the tone lightened with ‘The Moderator’ in #86-87. Steve Dillon deftly added gritty action and sardonic mirth to the tale of an infallible hired killer commissioned to destroy The Doctor and secure his time vehicle for a new recurring villain…

Ultimate disaster capitalist Josiah W. Dogbolter was the richest man (humanoid frog actually) in creation and believed that Time was Money, further positing that if he had a machine to control time all the money would naturally follow. He was not happy when The Doctor couldn’t be bought…

This stunning, sterling trade paperback concludes with a short story by veteran British comics stalwart Paul Neary (from a plot by Dez Skinn) as an extragalactic chronovore invades the TARDIS, causing continuity to reverse itself and requiring the attention of all four Doctors (and K-9!) to counter the threat of ‘Timeslip’ (DWW #17-18: February 6th – 13th 1980).

Sheer effusive delight from start to finish, this is a splendid confection for casual readers, a fine shelf addition for dedicated fans of the show and a perfect opportunity to cross-promote our particular art-form to anyone minded to give comics another shot. The only thing that could improve it would be a digital edition…

All Doctor Who material © BBCtv. Doctor Who, the Tardis, Dalek word and device mark and all logos are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. Dalek device mark © BBC/Terry Nation 1963. All other material © its individual creators and owners. Published 2005 and 2014 by Panini. All rights reserved.

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Superman: Time and Time Again


By Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Roger Stern, Bob McLeod, Brett Breeding, Dennis Janke, Tom Grummett, Jose Marzan & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1852865702 (TPB)

When Superman was re-imagined after Crisis on Infinite Earths, many of his more omnipotent abilities were discarded. Like his earliest days, he was a far from omnipotent hero, more in touch with humanity because he wasn’t so far above it. One thing that was abandoned was his casual ability to travel through time.

Indeed, rather than being able to navigate the chronal corridors with ease, in this splendid epic from 1991 (originally published serially in Action Comics #663-665, Adventures of Superman #476-478, and Superman (volume 2) #54-55 -with epilogues from #61 & 73 – the Man of Tomorrow is trapped in a cataclysmic and volatile temporal warp, bounced around from era to era with his abilities constantly diminishing and utterly unable to regain his home and loved ones.

That specifically means co-worker and girlfriend Lois Lane, to whom he has just divulged his greatest secret… his real identity…

It all begins in Adventures of Superman #476 as Dan Jurgens & Brett Breeding’s ‘The Linear Man’ sees a rogue (self-appointed) guardian of the Time Stream attempt to forcibly return chronal refugee-turned superhero Booster Gold to the 25th century he originated from. When Superman intervenes, the battle sparks a tremendous explosion, causing the Caped Kryptonian to careen through time. Each “landing” leaves him in a significant period of Earth’s history such as Roger Stern & Bob McLeod’s ‘Lost in the ‘40s Tonight’ (Action Comics #663) precipitating a meeting with that era’s first mystery men before almighty wraith the Spectre transports him not home but to ‘The Warsaw Ghetto!’ to act as temporary savour in an iconic battle saga by Jerry Ordway & Dennis Janke from Superman #54.

Apparently only gigantic explosions can launch him back into the time stream, such as occurs in in ‘Death Rekindled’ (Adventures of Superman #477 Jurgens & Brett Breeding) when a trip to the future introduces him to an iteration of the Legion of Super-Heroes needing help to destroy a monstrous Sun Eater… ‘

That climactic detonation deposits him ‘Many Long Years Ago’ (Action Comics #664, Stern & McLeod) to end up a Jurassic castaway until a clash with marooned time thief Chronos propels him into the Pleistocene and a chronologically adrift encounter with primordial alien race the H’v’ler’ni (AKA the Host)…

That tussle tosses him forward to ‘Camelot’ just as the Dark Ages begin, battling valiantly but in vain beside eventual All-Star Squadron champion and Seventh Soldier of Victory Sir Justin the Shining Knight in Superman #55 (Ordway) before landing again with another LSH for blockbusting finale ‘Moon Rocked’ (Adventures of Superman #478 Jurgens & Breeding) and resolution and reunion with Lois via a 5-page excerpt from Action Comics #665’s ‘Wake the Dead’…

Also included are the contents of Superman #61’s ‘Time and Time Again Again!’ and #73’s ‘Time Ryders’ – both by Jurgens & Breeding – as the Man of Tomorrow has further dealings with the Linear Men Matthew Ryder, Waverider, Liri Lee and Hunter…

As Superman is gradually depowered whilst seeking to get home without wrecking reality, he enjoys incredible memorable moments – such as walking with dinosaurs, cathartically crushing Nazis, tussling with a mammoth and fighting Etrigan the Demon during the fall of civilisation. He also meets many milestone characters from DC history including the WWII Justice Society of America, and encounters the Legion of Super-Heroes at three critical points of their long and varied career: making this tale a significant marker for establishing the key points of post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity…

This hugely enjoyable epic is highly readable and cheerfully accessible for both returning and first time fans so it’s a true shame it’s currently out of print and still unavailable as a digital edition. Hopefully with Superman’s 85th anniversary impending there are moves afoot to rectify that…
© 1991, 1992, 1994 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Yoko Tsuno volume 2: The Time Spiral


By Roger Leloup translated by Luke Spear (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-905460-43-4 (Album PB)

In 1970, indomitable intellectual adventurer and “electronics engineer” Yoko Tsuno began her career in Le Journal de Spirou. She is still delighting readers and making new fans to this day in astounding, all-action, excessively accessible adventures which are amongst the most intoxicating, absorbing and broad-ranging comics thrillers ever created.

The globe-girdling, space-&-time-spanning episodic epics starring the Japanese investigator were devised by monumentally multi-talented Belgian maestro Roger Leloup, who began his own solo career after working as a studio assistant and technical artist on Hergé’s timeless Adventures of Tintin.

Compellingly told, superbly imaginative and – no matter how implausible the premise of any individual yarn may appear – always firmly grounded in hyper-realistic settings underpinned by authentic, unshakably believable technology and scientific principles, Leloup’s illustrated escapades were at the vanguard of a wave of strips revolutionising European comics.

That long-overdue sea-change heralded the rise of competent, clever, brave and formidably capable female protagonists taking their rightful places as heroic ideals; elevating Continental comics in the process. These endeavours are as engaging and empowering now as they ever were, and none more so than the trials and tribulations of Miss Tsuno.

Her very first outings (the still unavailable Hold-up en hi-fi, La belle et la bête and Cap 351) were mere introductory vignettes before the superbly capable troubleshooter and her valiant if less able male comrades Pol Paris and Vic Van Steen properly hit their stride with premier full-length saga Le trio de l’étrange in 1971 (Le Journal de Spirou’s May 13th edition)…

Yoko’s journeys include explosive exploits in exotic corners of our world, sinister deep-space sagas and even time-travelling jaunts like this one. There are 30 European albums to date but only 16 translated into English thus far. This one was first serialised in 1980 (Spirou #2189-2210 before being released the following year as compellingly gripping thriller album La Spirale du temps. Chronologically the 11th album, due to the quirks of publishing it reached us Brits as her second English-language Cinebook outing, offering enigma and mystery and three shots of global Armageddon…

Miss Tsuno is visiting a cousin and enjoying old childhood haunts in Borneo, with Vic and Pol along for the ride: as ever scouting film footage for another of their documentary projects. As the boys take to the skies in a helicopter, their companion is befriending elephants and exploring an ancient, ramshackle and beloved temple. She is particularly taken with the bas-relief of a beautiful dancer on the wall of the crumbling edifice which has fascinated her since her earliest years…

This night, however, her bucolic routine is shattered by bizarre events. Staying out later than usual, Yoko observes a weird machine appear out of thin air near the temple. When a young girl steps out of the contraption, she is barracked by two men, one of whom then shoots her.

Instantly Yoko intervenes, but when she decks the shooter he vanishes in an explosive swirl of light. Incredible explanations follow as “Monya” introduces herself as a time traveller from the 39th century. It’s hard to believe, but she does have a gadget which closes and repairs her wound in seconds…

Monya has voyaged back in time to prevent a contemporary scientific experiment running in the area causing Earth’s destruction in her era. In fact, the visitor from 3872 saw her own father die and the planet turn to a cinder relative moments before arriving. Now she is intent on finding scientist Stephen Webbs and stopping his imminent test of an antimatter bomb…

At her cousin Izumi’s home, Yoko confers with Vic and Pol, who hear with astonishment a tale of future war, a devastated ecology planetary destruction and how the 14-year old has been tasked with ensuring that her reality never comes to pass.

Monya’s attacker had been a man named Stamford: a fellow time-traveller who had gone off-mission and died because of it. Chrononauts cannot exist outside their own time without biological regulators to attune them to foreign times, and he must have damaged his when he tried to kill her…

A lucky chance then points them to a remote area where an Australian named Webbs has set up a site for an international telecoms company. The next morning our heroes are heading for the Dragon Mountain in two helicopters, although they are not sure what they will do when they get there. It certainly won’t be to kill Webbs like Stamford wanted…

Bluffing their way in, Yoko and Monya leave the boys in the air as back-up and quickly discover the site has precious little to do with radio communications. It’s an old Japanese fortress from WWII, reconditioned to be utterly impregnable and manned by a private army. They even have a particle accelerator!

Whatever the researchers are up to, they don’t discount Monya’s story. Too many strange things have occurred lately. Webbs was acquainted with Stamford; another colleague – Leyton – has gone missing and a rash of strange events still plagues the project. Before suspicious Webbs can explain further, and as if to underscore the point, a massive piece of machinery flies across the room and almost kills the nosy girls…

Webbs is at his wits end, but Monya’s futuristic tech detects a strange energy field and leads Yoko to another fantastic discovery. On a tunnel wall sealed for decades she reads a military warning inscription. It is signed by her uncle, Toshio Ishida. An engineer and part of the occupation forces, he stayed and married a local after the war. Yoko is staying in his home with the colonel’s son Izumi…

Webbs is desperate to talk. Taking the girls aside he reveals what Monya already knows: he has isolated antimatter. What she didn’t know, however, is that this revelation was given to him by some unknown manipulator and only he can handle the material. Everybody else is held back by the kind of force causing objects to fly about and explode. Most terrifying of all, Webbs has uncovered evidence that the Japanese also had antimatter. But if so, why didn’t they win the war with it?

With no other option available, Yoko decides she and Monya must travel back to 1943 to solve the mystery…

What they discover is a viper’s nest of criminality and intrigue, a scheme to unleash hell on Japan’s democratic enemies and an arcane horror which tests Yoko’s guts and ingenuity to the limit. Moreover, even after spectacularly defeating the threat in 1943, the alien menace remembers its enemies once they return to the present…

Complex, devious and superbly fast-paced, this mesmerising thriller is an onion-skinned marvel of ingenious plotting: a fabulous monster-hunting yarn which reveals more of Yoko’s past as she tackles a threat to today and saves a distant tomorrow.

Building to a thundering climax and uplifting conclusion, it again confirms Yoko Tsuno as an ultimate hero, at home in every kind of scenario and easily able to hold her own against the likes of James Bond, Modesty Blaise, Tintin or other genre-busting super-stars: as coolly capable facing spies and madmen as alien invaders, weird science or unchecked forces of nature…

As always the most effective asset in these breathtaking tales is the astonishingly authentic and staggeringly detailed draughtsmanship and storytelling, which superbly benefits from Leloup’s diligent research and meticulous attention to detail. The Time Spiral is a magnificently wide-screen thriller, tense and satisfying, and will appeal to any fan of blockbuster action fantasy or devious derring-do.
Original edition © Dupuis, 1981 by Roger Leloup. All rights reserved. English translation 2007 © Cinebook Ltd.

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Adam Eterno – A Hero for All Time


By Tom Tully, Tom Kerr, Colin Page, Francisco Solano López, Eric Bradbury Ted Kearon, Rex Archer & various (Rebellion)
ISBN: 978-1-78108-869-2 (TPB/Digital edition)

British comics had a strange and extended love affair with what can only be described as “unconventional” (for which feel free to substitute “creepy”) heroes. So many of the stars and potential role models of our serials and strips were just plain “off”: self-righteous, moody voyeurs-turned vigilantes like Jason Hyde, sinister masterminds like The Dwarf, deranged geniuses like Eric Dolmann, so many reformed criminals like The Spider or just outright racist supermen like Captain Hurricane…

…And don’t get me started on our legion of lethally anarchic comedy icons or that our most successful symbol of justice is the Eagle-bedecked jack-booted poster boy for a fascist state. Perhaps that explains why these days we can’t even imagine or envision what a proper leader looks like and keep on electing clowns, crooks and oblivious privileged simpletons…

All joking aside, British comics are unlike any other kind and simply have to be seen to be believed and enjoyed. One of the most revered stars of the medium has finally begun to be collected in archival editions, and perfectly encapsulates our odd relationship with heroism,  villainy and particularly the murky grey area bridging them…

Until the 1980s, comics in the UK were based on an anthological model, offering variety of genre, theme and character on a weekly – or sometimes fortnightly – basis. Humorous periodicals like The Beano were leavened by thrillers like Billy the Cat or General Jumbo and adventure papers like Lion or Valiant always included gag strips such as The Nutts, Grimly Feendish, Mowser and a wealth of similar quick laugh treats.

Thunder and Jet were amongst the last of this fading model. Fleetway particularly was shifting to themed anthologies like Shoot, Action and Battle, whilst venerable veterans like Lion, Valiant and Buster hung on and stayed fresh by absorbing failing titles. Thunder ran for 22 weeks before merging into Lion & Thunder, bringing with it Black Max, The Steel Commando, The Spooks of Saint Luke’s and Adam Eterno. With Steel Commando, Adam would survive and thrive, as the comic later merged into Valiant & Lion (June 1974) until 1976. He also appeared in numerous Annuals and Specials thereafter.

Eterno was initially devised by Thunder assistant editor Chris Lowder and editor Jack Legrand, with top flight artist Tom Kerr (Monty Carstairs, Rip Kerrigan, Kelly’s Eye, Charlie Peace, Captain Hurricane, Steel Claw, Kraken, Mary-Jo, Tara King/The Avengers, Billy’s Boots) initially designing and visualising the frankly spooky antihero and drawing the first episode.

The feature was scripted by equally adept and astoundingly prolific old hand Tom Tully (Roy of the Rovers, Heros the Spartan, Janus Stark, Dan Dare, The Wild Wonders, Johnny Red, The Leopard from Lime Street) but after he left in 1976 Kerr, Donne Avenell, Scott Goddall and Ted Cowan would write Adam’s later adventures for star turns like Joe Colquhoun, John Catchpole, Eric Bradbury, Page, Carlos Cruz and others to illustrate.

Gathering the debut and all episodes from Thunder (October 17th 1970 – 13th March 1971 plus material from Thunder Annual 1972, 1973 & 1974, the chronal calamities and dark doings are preceded by ‘A Hero in Time’: an editorial reminiscence by artist Colin Page.

Delivered in stark, moody monochome, and further illustrated by Page, Francisco Solano López (and his family studio), Bradbury, Ted Kearon and Rex Archer, these tales are the earliest exploits of the tragic immortal chronal-castaway Adam Eterno who began life as a 16th century apprentice to alchemist Erasmus Hemlock…

When his master perfects an immortality serum, headstrong impatient Adam samples the potion against the sage’s command, precipitating the ancient’s death and a fiery conflagration that destroys the house. The alchemist last act is to curse his disobedient student to live forever and “wander the world through the labyrinths of time”. His only surcease would come from a mortal blow struck by a weapon of solid gold…

The curse is truly effective and as centuries pass, Adam becomes a recluse: his unchanging nature driving him away from superstitious mortals and denying him over and over again simple contact with humanity. He fought in all of Britain’s wars, but combat comradeship always ended when a seemingly fatal blow of wound left him unharmed…

Everything changed and the second part of the alchemist’s curse came true in 1970 when the traumatised, barely sane 421-year-old tramp staggered into a bullion robbery and was shot by the thieves. Realising their victim is invulnerable, the bandits attempt to use him in a raid on the Bank of England, but when that fails, Adam slowly starts to regain his wits – just in time to be struck by the fully-gold-plated limousine of a speeding millionaire…

The impact would be fatal for any other being, but for Adam Eterno it is the beginning of redemption as the shock hurls him into the time stream to land over and again in different eras…

With Page (D-Day Dawson, Paddy Payne) at the helm, his first jaunt lands Adam on a sailing ship in 1770, inadvertently saving seagoers from murderous pirate Barnaby Shark, before joining the buccaneer to steal his solid gold dagger to end his twice-lived life…

When that ploy fails, Adam is whisked away to rematerialize in Texas. The year is 1872 and the gold rush has ended a decade since, but evil still abounds as local cattle baron Bret Logan seeks to drive settlers away. When Adam sides with them, the rancher hires deadly gunslinger The Yellowstone Kid, a killer with guns of gold. It seems like Adam would finally get his wish, but sadly the bullets are simply lead.

And so it goes: Adam comes tantalisingly close on every arrival, seemingly drawn to terror and injustice with each event linked to some sort of potential auric armageddon. In Victorian London he battles masked madman the Flying Footpad as the villains seeks to steal a golden turban; foils contemporary South American dictator and war criminal General Carlos Cabeza despite the threat of another golden dagger and returns to World War I’s Western Front and confronts seemingly indestructible German General Von Gruber and his golden sabre in extended multi-chapter exploits.

Returning to modern days, Eterno joins treasure-hunting divers facing an apparent ghost guarding a sunken galleon: battling brutal thug dubbed Hammerhand (because of his gold prosthesis). Courtesy of the magnificent Solano López (Kelly’s Eye, Janus Stark, Master of the Marsh, Raven on the Wing), a voyage to Dark Ages England to stave off a Viking invasion, segues into Saxon times (by Colin Page) in the wake of the Norman conquest and a small war against wicked golden knight Baron de Gride before a turning point and further facts on the enigmatic wanderer arrives when he land in a 20th century reconstruction of the house where he served and was cursed by Erasmus Hemlock…

Limned by Solano-López, the tale discloses how modern crooks seek to use the house to swindle a rich American until “dissuaded” by the original occupant, who then fetches up in Africa during the Boer War, with Page detailing how he saves English troops from brutal Afrikaans tactical mastermind The Butcher. This time, the weapon to watch is a gold-tipped bullwhip…

Solano López returns for a Roman holiday as Adam saves a gladiator from assassination and becomes embroiled in a plot by wicked Odius Limpus to make himself even more wealthy. Such a shame it’s happening in Pompeii’s arena in August, 79 AD…

This spectacular yarn closed Adam Eterno’s run and indeed the comic Thunder, but this collection holds more gleaming extras in the form of a quintet of tales from Thunder Annuals. The first is from the 1972 edition, rendered by British national treasure Eric Bradbury who depicts a snowy drama in a German town circa 1598, where “the Old Man of Vartzberg” is again terrorising the populace with his sudden manifestations. In situ – prior to becoming lost in time – is English Witchfinder Adam Eterno, on a personal crusade to wipe out alchemists and other mystic dabblers. When he roots out the wizard he is damned by a prophecy to beware a golden sword… but the crisis point only happens in 1943 when British commando Eterno leads a team against Nazi-held Vartzberg…

Next comes a brace of tales from 1973, beginning with an adventure illustrated by Rex Archer. Here, after Merlin seals the Goblin Crown of the Dark Gods in his Golden Tower, Adam is plucked from Limbo to battle a dragon and duped by vile Sir Mordrac into fetching the artefact out again. Thankfully, King Arthur’s mage had made contingency plans…

In accompaniment is a prose tale with spot illustrations from Ted Kearon, wherein Adam saves enslaved Saxons from Vikings and is forced to prove his unkillable nature over and over again.

The following year Solano-López opened proceedings as the Man Who Could Not Die arrived in the Americas just in time to aid privateer captain Francis Drake in his legendary raid on Panama, but only after Adam clears out a host of giant mutated monsters created by a crazed Spanish Don-turned-alchemist.

Bradbury then added two-toned images (red & black) to another prose saga as Adam arrived in London fog in 1896: avoiding the police whilst tracking a murderous “Leaping Terror” with a strong resemblance to a giant bat…

Closing with biographies on the many creatures featured herein and dotted with covers and teaser visuals, Adam Eterno – A Hero Out of Time is potently thrilling and rewarding romp to delight readers who like their protagonists dark and conflicted and their history in bite-sized bursts.
© 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, & 2021 Rebellion Publishing IP Ltd. All Rights Reserved.