The phone rang insistently on my desk, waking me from my nap. I dropped my comic book and spilled coffee all over the galleys for the next article. On the other end of the line was a voice, a woman's voice, heavily accented in German.
"Is something wrong? We didn't receive our shipment of Galactic Journey!"
That woke me up faster than a cup of pure zavarka. Stealing a glance at the calendar, I saw that it wasn't the 22nd but the 23rd. For the first time in two years, we'd missed a deadline.
"Uh, no! Everything's fine! We're just doing a special edition. Building suspense-like. Don't worry. I'll call the vans and make sure they bring you your inventory."
The L.A. Times' Lester Rodney, not me…but close enough
Hanging up before my stunned caller could reply, I took stock of the situation. Our beautiful next article was a sopping mess, completely useless. I couldn't even see what the subject had been — a new book? Skinny on Star Trek, debuting in September? Candid photos of Tony Randall in swim trunks?
Whatever it had been, it was melted shreds now. I had to put up something, and fast. But what? How could I possibly fill the slot, 24 hours late, no less!
My eyes lit upon the comic book at my feet, Fantastic Four #53.
God bless Stan Lee (and Jack Kirby)!
Of course, I didn't have time to write a full article. That takes hours, research, several fingers of rum. I didn't even have coffee in me!
Then I remembered that a picture is worth a thousand words. And we have a limit on article length at the Journey: always try to keep things shorter than 2000 words, I say.
Two comic book panels would be enough. Heck, eight would be sheer luxury!
So, with very little introduction (far less than he deserves), meet the newest Marvel Superhero: Black Panther!
This is the King of Wakanda, a highly advanced country somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. He's invited the Fantastic Four to his nation for… some reason.
Turns out, it was to beat all four of them pretty handily.
But why? He's no villain. He's a noble hero! Turns out, the "Great Hunt" was really just the equivalent of a Wakandan handshake. I mean, fighting is superhero foreplay, right?
So why did he really invite the FF to his swingin' super-sciencey jungle pad?
Sadly, when I got FF #52 last month, that ish left me on a cliffhanger, and it wasn't until this month I got the answer.
Seems the evil organization, Klaw, had attacked Wakanda. In the process, the King was killed, leaving his son to grieve… and avenge.
Needless to say, FF #53 details the defeat of Klaw's minions at the hands of the grown-up prince. But though his pledged duty be done, there's always more injustice to be fought.
And so, the Marvel universe not only gets a new hero (and one of the most powerful in the pantheon) but our first black hero to boot! Black Panther is not quite the first foreign hero to grace a Marvel Mag, now that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have joined the Avengers, but it's still nice to see villain-busting become an international affair.
All I gotta say is, Make Mine Marvel!
(and thanks for bearing with the delay and this makeshift slot-fill. I promise it won't happen again…for at least another 24 hours! Next time, I'll lay off the sauce…)
On TV you are spoilt for choice, whether you prefer John Steed, John Drake, Richard Cadell, Napoleon Solo or even Amos Burke.
Just a few of the spy books that dominate UK bookshelves
You can go to any bookshop and pick up the latest thriller from people like John Le Carre, Len Deighton or even by Michael Moorcock (under one of his many aliases).
The late George Victor Spencer, alleged spy
But also, in real life news. A 92-page document was made public in Vancouver yesterday, detailing the allegation that George Victor Spencer, recently deceased, had been assigned to look into farms near the US border in order to find a suitable property to set up a site that could possibly have been a base for Soviet intelligence operations.
Mr. Spencer had denied these allegations and called for a public enquiry before his death. I imagine the debate about whether he was really a Russian agent or just a falsely accused man will continue for some time.
With all this intrigue happening around us, it is perhaps unsurprising that the first ever British comic book adaptation is another spy tale: Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise.
An Unlucrative Medium
Garth, deserving of a Republic serial?
Comic books have not been ones for adaptation in Britain. We did not have the 30s/40s film serials like the United States, so we did not get a Garth Conquers The Universe or The Return of Buck Ryan.
Would Belvision fancy having a go at Dan Dare?
Nor is there a strong enough animation field to produce The Adventures of Dan Dare or The Rupert The Bear Show.
Maybe a Roy of Rovers sports film would sell better?
Whilst comics remain popular the idea that we would ever get a Roy of the Rovers or Bash Street Kids film would seem beyond remote. But Modesty Blaise has changed that.
A Pop Culture Icon
Peter O’Donnell’s “novelization” of the film script
The first strip of Modesty Blaise was only released 3 years ago, but she has already become a massive success. So before talking about the new movie I think it is important to talk about the original strip.
A Romeo Brown story in which he gets hit with a golf ball and loses his memory
At the same time as working on the beloved adventure strip Garth, the Daily Mirror further employed Peter O'Donnell to takeover Romeo Brown, their comedy comic strip about a bumbling detective, usually involved in silly situations with various young women. The quality of the strip is not that memorable, but it is there he began collaborating with Jim Holdaway.
Modesty Blaise's Beginnings
After Romeo Brown finished, Peter O’Donnell decided to create a more serious strip where a woman would be a capable hero rather than simply an object of desire or a damsel for the man to rescue. Apparently inspired by an orphan girl he met when stationed in Persia during the war, he teamed up once again with Holdaway to create Modesty Blaise.
Modesty reassures Willie’s girlfriend Marjorie that she has no romantic feelings for him.
Starting in 1963, Blaise feels like a totally new type of hero. Both Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin (her loyal sidekick) are both former criminals neither from privileged backgrounds. Modesty grew up in refugee camps in Persia and other Middle Eastern countries, whilst Willie is very much a working-class character. There is also no suggestion that she has any romantic interaction with Willie, instead they are loyal professional colleagues.
An excellent action sequence where Willie rams a lorry into Gabriel’s mansion
It is not just the initial concept that is fresh, the quality of the strip feels ahead of anything else I could easily pick up. O’Donnell’s plots feel fresh and complex, varying significantly from story to story. One week she will be investigating drug running in the Vietnam war, the next dealing with psychic espionage. These are combined with characters that feel deep and real. O’Donnell’s writing and Holdaway’s art also come together to give a really cinematic presentation with a real eye for direction.
The Daily Express’ James Bond strip: A more old fashioned kind of spy story
Whilst it can often feel like comic books lag behind literature (most science fiction strips seem to be barely coming to grips with the Golden Age), Modesty Blaise often feels like it is closer to the new wave of British espionage literature. Rather than the old-fashioned heroics of James Bond, Blaise owes something to the George Smiley tales or The IPCRESS File, with a certain level of cynicism about intelligence operations.
Modesty comforts Weng after he shoots his sister
The prospects for the film seemed good at first. Peter O’Donell wrote the initial story for the film, although it was changed significantly for the screen (his novelization is based on his script rather than the finished product) with the main writer and director representing a reunion of Joseph Losey and Evan Jones, the team behind the brilliant Hammer Film The Damned.
So, I went in to see it on the first day of release quietly confident…
An Outrageous Mess
Modesty Blaise Titles
…and I am honestly not sure what I got. It is almost like every scene was made by a different director, none of whom talked to each other, and all footage edited together in five minutes at midnight.
It is quite an experience to watch and hard to believe it was ever released. Is the intention meant to be satirical? Artistic? Serious? I cannot see it particularly working with any reading.
Just a few of the numerous outfits on display (along with her magical color changing hair)
If I were to praise anything about it, it is the look. The design work in it is beautiful, taking full advantage of being in colour to showcase bright locations and fashions. But even that gets wearying quickly. I believe Modesty changes outfit in almost every scene, only briefly wearing her iconic comic outfit for the sake of a cheap joke about how to change out of it. At times it feels less like they consider Blaise to be a spy than a model for Marissa Martelli’s designs.
Rather than the serious tone of the newspaper strip, Losey’s film has a large dose of comedy inserted into it. Some is absurdly silly, some is satiric, some is very dark. None of it really landed for me.
One of the core points of Modesty's character is how skilled a fighter she is. Here the only evidence we see of that is a really poorly choreographed fight scene. For much of the film she is reduced to being a damsel in distress. This is a common problem in British media, I am aware, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing to see here.
Modesty and Willie discuss their romantic feelings through the medium of song.
Willie now seems to have transformed into some Alfie-like lothario in a modish bachelor pad rather than an ex-criminal who runs a pub. They also break one of the most interesting elements of the original strip by involving them in a romance. Inexplicably told through musical numbers taking place in between or during action scenes.
Gabriel was previously a Moriarty style figure with an enlarged forehead and walked with a limp. Much like Lex Luthor is to Superman, he seems designed to be the brain to match Modesty and Willie’s brawn. Yet in the film he just appears to be an eccentric, upset about any snag in his plans whilst launching rocket missiles that shoot lasers.
The movie also uses scenes from the original comic but without any real explanation or context. The opening scene appears to be taken from The Gabriel Set-Up but whilst there it is a key plot-point about a device to extract people’s secrets, in the film it appears to be an advanced printer which, in another attempt at humor, is unable to give information she requires and has no relation to the rest of the story.
At the start of this section, I said trying to get a read on what this film is trying to do is tough. As an adaptation it has barely any faithfulness. As a silly comedy the jokes are not directed well enough to land.
If it is a satire I am not sure what of? Imperialism? It is more imperialist than anything. Spy films and TV? The meta-fictional jokes don’t really make sense for that. I never thought a problem with all the espionage thrillers coming out is that they have obvious continuity errors, break out into musical numbers at random or even that they take themselves too seriously. The awful carry-on films do a better job at mockery of popular media than this.
I have heard it is trying to be artful but, honestly, I am not convinced by that either. I am fan of the cut-up approach of Burroughs, Ballard and their ilk but they do this to tell a story as a whole in an interesting way, not to make something non-sensical. Whilst we can debate the true value of Duchamp’s Fountain, I can see the point he was making. The only point here seems to be it is a plainly bad film.
The End…Thankfully
As the Sheikh’s troops advance on Gabriel’s stronghold, Willie and Modesty sing once again.
I do not even know if you can truly rank this on a star system. I cannot even be sure what I just watched was actually a film. The only evidence seems to be I paid money to see it in a cinema. The whole thing, whatever it is, is almost worth seeing in order to appreciate how bizarre an experience it is.
However, I come down on the side of staying at home instead. There you can spend your time reading O’Donnell and Holdaway’s wonderful comic strip in comfort. Find out if a newspaper anywhere near you is syndicating it, I hear that it has been picked up all over the world and it is one of the true greats.
[Our comics coverage has spanned much of the globe, but one region has remained unexplored by the Journey…until now. With this article, we welcome Erica Friedman to the ranks of the Journey's associates!]
by Erica Friedman
If you joined us for the Journey Show last October, you were able to learn about the newest popular TV medium coming from Japan. Japanese cartoons are making their mark with themes of nature versus man's drive to develop technology, frequently exploring what truly makes us human…and some lucky American viewers have already had a chance to see some of these cartoons on television. But what you may not know, is that many of these cartoons were already popular in Japan in the form of comics which are called "manga."
What are Japanese Manga?
"Manga" is a word that means "loose drawing," i.e., a sketched image. The word manga was coined in the late 18th century, but the painter Hokusai made it famous with his sketchbooks, Hokusai Manga, which were first published in 1814.The British Museum goes so far as to ask if maybe Hokusai himself is the father of manga, but I think it is a bit much to assume that no other artists before him ever did a sketch, don't you think?
Katsushika Hokusai Buddhist monks, from Hokusai manga, 1814
Japanese comics really took off after the war. One of the first truly breakout manga was Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island) by Osamu Tezuka, based on Robert Louis Stevenson's rollicking tale. Published in 1947, this comic launched a new age of comics in Japan. You might also recognize Mr. Tezuka's name from our conversation about Japanese cartoons. Mr. Tezuka is a very busy and successful creator and his name will come up again and again as we talk.
New Treasure Island, by Osamu Tezuka
Magazines Full Of Comics
When we think of comics, probably what comes to mind first is superheroes like Batman and Superman. One of the things that makes Japanese comics unique is – like comics here before the Comics Code – there are manga for all ages and sexes. Not only are there comics for girls and boys, even adults read manga. Whole magazines that are nothing but serialized comics stories are sold in Japan. People can even rent a magazine for a few cents, then return it, just like a library. Imagine a magazine where you could get the latest issue of all your favorite superheroes at once. These manga magazines in Japan are targeted to different ages and sexes, but its pretty easy to tell who reads which magazines.
Shoten Magazine 1966 featuring Shotaro Ishinomori's Cyborg 099.Nakayoshi, January 1966. Cover by Macoto Takahashi.
Here's an interesting question for you to ponder. Of these two magazines, which one had a comic by Mr. Tezuka running in it? You might be tempted to answer the top one, Shoten Magazine, because Mr. Tezuka's comics seem to be about robot boys and other adventures. You probably can guess where I'm going with this…Mr. Tezuka's comic Princess Knight runs in the girl's magazine, Nakayoshi. And that's just one of the amazing things about these magazines. You might see a comic by our Mr. Tezuka in a magazine for girls or boys or adults. Because he and Mr. Ishinomori are are so prolific, you might see them both in multiple magazines at the same time.
Just as we have comic strips in our newspapers, Japanese newspapers have comic strips, too. They are read from top to bottom, but like Nancy and Blondie in any American paper, the average Japanese mom or pop can read the daily adventures of Mrs. Sazae, an award-winning comic by Miss Michiko Hasegawa. This comic has been one of the most popular series in all of Japan since it was first published in 1946.
Sazae-san, Mrs. Sazae, by Michiko Hasegawa,
I mentioned that Miss Hasegawa received an award for her comic strip. In fact, there are a number of awards given to comic art, where we only have the Alley Awards from the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors. The Bungeishunjuu Manga Award was given to Miss Hasegawa, but you've already heard some names here of other award winning creators including Mr. Tezuka and Mr. Ishinomori, who is this year's award winner of the Kodansha Children's Manga Award for his story we saw up above, Cyborg 009.
Popular Japanese Comics
Some of the animated series we talked about in our Journey Show, are also popular manga stories.
Jungle Emperor Leo, which has that amazing full-color animation, is another series by Mr Tezuka. Notably, this story is very pro-nature and anti-technological development, a theme you can find in many of his works. Also notable in a story for children, the complexities and harsh realities of adult life aren't hidden away from young eyes. The world Leo exists in is cruel – and the law of man is much crueler than the laws of nature.
Jungle Taitei Leo by Osamu Tezuka, published by Shogakukan
Mr. Tezuka is also writing comics for other series we talked about in the show, like Big X, Wonder 3 and the above-mentioned Princess Knight. These all run in different magazines!
Big X, by Osamu TezukaRibon no Kishi, aka Princess Knight , by Osamu Tezuka
Not everything is so serious in manga, though. Magical girls are a new trend that is very fun. We have Bewitched on our TVs (and you might not be aware of this, but it is a comic book, as well) and Japanese comics fans have The Secrets of Miss Akko. Where Samantha wiggles her nose to make magic, Miss Akko uses a magical mirror. Girls all over Japan love this series and I expect we'll be seeing many more like it.
Himitsu no Akko-chan by Fujio Akatsuka.
In the beginning I mentioned that we probably think of Batman or Superman when we think of comic books today. Well, the Japanese manga fan can also enjoy a Batmanga of their very own. But don't tell DC! I'm not sure they have permission.
The Future of Japanese Comic
Even as TV continues to gain in popularity and more animation appears, I think we won't see a slowdown in manga for a long while. And remember, those children who grew up reading comics are likely to become the manga artists of the future. It will be very interesting to tune back in five years and see what's hip and new in manga in Japan.
Is 1966 the best year ever for comic books? Yeah… maybe!
Based on the articles I’ve been seeing in newspapers, magazines and fanzines, Batman appears to be the runaway hit tv program of 1966. After 12 episodes, this show has exceeded expectations for fans and non-fans alike. Who would have expected Batman to be so true to the comics, with appearances by the Joker, Mr. Freeze, the Mad Hatter and even an obscure character like the Riddler (who hadn’t appeared in any comics between 1948 and 1965!).
The show has been a delight, and has prompted this house to buy a brand new color TV to enjoy it in its full splendor (well, that, and we had to see the exotic locations in Man from U.N.C.L.E. in color, too). And gosh, what a tremendous show this is for its bright and shiny design elements. The costumes of Batman, the Joker and Robin all look spectacular on our new Admiral set!
I know there has been some grousing about how the show mocks the Caped Crusader and his faithful pal, but I frankly love it. Maybe I’ve been desperate for a superhero TV show since Superman left the air a decade ago, but I dig the clever ways the show’s producers incorporate comic book elements into every scene of the show. The “BIFF! BANG! POW” elements during fight scenes may annoy some viewers who want more seriousness in their superheroes, but to me these are like comic book panels writ large on my 25” screen, thrilling reminders of their roots while also giving TV viewers a clever motif to groove on. Others complain that the characters seem self-mocking, calling it “camp” (a phrase I’ve never heard in this context before), but I wonder if those complainers read the Batman comics I wrote about last year. Until very recently, Batman was a moribund character fated for cancelation, so I’m delighted to see him get any attention at all.
And I groove on the deathtraps these characters find themselves in every Wednesday prior to the Thursday conclusions. Ma Bell likes it too, I think, because my friends and I call each other every week to try to figure out how our heroes can escape from the amazing perils the villains place them in.
I’m starting to see a rise in the interest in super-heroes at my local newsstand, perhaps prompted by the success of the TV show. It also helps that so many of the comics being released today are absolutely great. Not only are Marvel and National releasing lines of comics that are more intriguing than they have ever been, but new and revived publishers are putting out some comics that are outstanding (and some that are less than great, but hey, that’s just the law of averages at play, I think).
A lot of the thrill these days has been at Marvel, as some of their comics are reaching unparalleled new levels of excellence. For instance, the work of Steve Ditko and Stan Lee on both Amazing Spider-Man and the “Dr. Strange” strip in Strange Tales has been outstanding. Peter Parker has graduated high school and enrolled at Empire State University in Spider-Man. Pete seems to be shedding his nature as a nebbish since he joined college, making new friends while having new (and more sophisticated) problems. The three-part “Master Planner” saga which ended in ASM #33 was a storyline nonpareil, a thrill a minute journey with a spectacular denouement. (I’m including the payoff below, but please try to find all these issues if you can, because the leadup is just as spectacular).
Ditko and Lee’s “Doctor Strange” is in the midst of an astonishing long saga which journeys to strange, mystical realms to bring readers scenes we’ve never seen before. This lone hero fights impossible obstacles, issue by painful issue, to save a humanity who have no idea of his heroics. These two Ditko-illustrated comics are breathtaking – and, as I’ll soon discuss, this prolific artist is working on more than two comics lately.
Those two series are two of the three best comics being released in 1966, but the third greatest comic of our year has to be Fantastic Four. Stan Lee and the incomparable Jack Kirby (King of the Comics) are delivering the most astonishing thrill-ride in comics history. Reed Richards married Sue Storm in the 1965 FF Annual, but the couple's life has been no honeymoon since their big event, as they’ve fought an incredible “Battle for the Baxter Building”, before meeting and fighting the astonishing Inhumans. But this month has produced perhaps the finest comic Marvel has ever printed. In this month’s FF #50, the heroes found themselves in conflict with the mysterious cosmic villain Galactus, who wants to eat the Earth simply to stay alive. Readers are swept away with the desperation of our heroes and their valiant battle to save our planet, a story only Jack Kirby could have drawn. It also features the character I believe will be the breakout hero of 1966, the star-spanning Silver Surfer.
Marvel’s also producing some other great comics. Thor has moved out of the old Journey Into Mystery anthology into his own comics title, and Lee and Kirby are delivering a godlike battle there which shakes the cosmos. In X-Men, Lee and artist Jay Gavin keep playing and have delivered an intriguing new hero-villain called the Mimic. Lee and new artist John Romita have been doing terrific work on Daredevil (Romita might be a good substitute for Ditko if the latter ever has to take a month off; it’s hard to imagine Ditko leaving the character permanently). And comics like Avengers, Sgt. Fury, Two-Gun Kid and Tales to Astonish are continuing to deliver satisfying action stories, with the shattered romance tale "Killed in Action" in Fury #18 a real standout.
At National, which some people call DC, the line has adopted a new set of “go-go checks” at the top of their covers. Besides being hep and fun, these checks also help the comics stand out at my local drug store rack – a smart decision if you ask me.
Inside their comics, National continues their solid comics storytelling. Editor Julius Schwartz’s line is consistently entertaining. The Atom, Batman, Detective Comics,Hawkman and Green Lantern are all standouts for both story and art. Meanwhile, action heroes like the Metal Men, the Challengers of the Unknown and the Sea Devils all continue to deliver fun excitement, and Doom Patrol is always an irreverent treat. New series Teen Titans promises to be fun, and what teen or pre-teen wouldn't groove to the tales of sidekicks joined together?
I was disappointed to see Adam Strange, Space Ranger and Rip Hunter… Time Master lose their ongoing strips, though I'm anxious to see what replaces them. And though Wonder Woman seems to continue to wander in its own mediocre wilderness (now set in the passé 1940s), the National line seems to be consistently entertaining each month. Of course, it’s hard to project how the massive success of Batman on TV will affect the comics, but one hopes the publisher won’t adopt those “camp” elements fans are so mixed about.
But some of the most exciting news in comics is happening outside of these two dominant publishers.
Gold Key Comics, primarily known for their comics featuring adaptations of TV series as diverse as Top Cat, Flipper and My Favorite Martian as well as their Disney line, is continuing their adventure comics line and even expanding the line. In fact, Super Goof set Mickey's pal Goofy as a super-hero in a delightful series of adventures as Super Goof!
Gold Key is the former sister publisher to Dell Comics, and it can often be hard to tell the two companies apart from each other despite their differences in editioral staffs. Their line also mainly consists of adapted titles like The Beverly Hillbillies and The Outer Limits along with a handful of original titles like Ghost Stories and Air War Stories. That line included a few new originals, including the gross-out Melvin Monster (which seems to be done by the same staff who deliver the delightful Thirteen Going on Thirty series) and the super-hero Nukla. I was also surprised to see a Black cowboy comic on the stands from Dell. Lobo is the stor of a buffalo soldier accused of a crime he didn't commit, and the first issue is pretty terrific! This may be the first comic featuring a solo Black character in his own title in many years (I believe there were a couple published by small companies in the 1940s), which is a nice sign of progress for the Great Society.
For many years, Charlton Comics have been considered at the bottom of the barrel, with their comics consistently delivering hackneyed and dull stories. Making things worse, Charltons seem like they’re printed on a cereal box press, with a strange paper texture, jagged edges on some of their pages, and even an odd smell to some of their comics.
Thankfully, though their printing quality doesn’t seem to be improving, Charlton’s comics are indeed improving. New series Peter Cannon… Thunderbolt launched early this year and has been fun. With art (and story?) by the mysterious PAM, these stories combine a surprising Eastern influence with New York gangsters. This is a series to watch.
Even more exciting is Captain Atom. You may remember the good Captain as an early sci-fi superhero from 1959 and 1960. Forget what you read before. The great Steve Ditko is now drawing Captain Atom’s adventures, and, let me tell you, they are as good as the stories Ditko is drawing at Marvel. Ditko’s Captain Atom is dynamic, fun and gorgeously illustrated. You’ll get bragging rights among your friends for recommending these comics to them.
I wish I could recommend Archie Comics’ line of superheroes to you, but they are painful to read. For many years now Archie has been publishing The Fly, but now the character has been renamed Fly Man in his own series (maybe to confuse Spider-Man fans?) and is also part of a new super-team called The Mighty Crusaders. That new team comic might be the worst comic of 1966, even worse than Wonder Woman.
The Archie heroes are written and drawn in a painful pastiche of the Marvel style, with “hip” dialogue and “fun” captions that read like a grandfather desperately trying to connect with his goatee-wearing grandkids. These comics aren’t just groan-inducing, they’re downright painful. Ignore them.
On a happier note, new publisher Tower Comics has been a very pleasant surprise. Their flagship title is THUNDER Agents, a fun mix of super-heroes and spy agencies that sets super-heroes No-Man, Dynamo, Menthor and Lightning against the evil Warlord.
So far, each issue has been double-sized, which means it’s packed with great and dynamic stories. Best of all, it includes illustrations from some of my beloved masters of comic book art, including Wally Wood, Reed Crandall, Gil Kane, George Tuska, Mike Sekowsky and others. These have been terrific comics, well worth seeking out. According to the fanzines, Tower has been doing well and should be available most everywhere, but if not, remind your local newsstand owner that he should make higher profits at 25¢ retail per issue.
Superheroes continue at American Comics Group as well. ACG comics always seem to range from “ok” to “weird as can be.” In the former category are Nemesis in Adventures into the Unknown and Magicman in Forbidden Worlds. Both those series read like mediocre Marvel or National comics, which is just fine.
But if you’re not picking up an occasional issue of Herbie, you’re missing one of the strangest, most inexplicable comics on the stands today. Just look at that cover above if you don’t believe me. I don’t even want to try to describe this unprecedented series to you because it’s just so surreal and delightful. I laugh more at this comic than I ever will at a year's worth of Archie hero comics. I promise you that Herbie and his lollipop will burrow into your brain.
The most unexpected premier of the last year has been the appearance of Captain Marvel on the newsstands, but it's not the Captain Marvel you'd think of. Newcomer publisher M.F. Publications has launched the adventures of a completely new Captain Marvel. Instead of shouting "Shazam", this Cap screams "split" and splits off his hands, legs and head so he can fight multiple criminals at the same time. Yes, it's all as odd as it sounds, made even odder by the fact that apparently the series is written and drawn by Carl Burgos, the man who created the original Human Torch back in the early 1940s!
The last stop in our journey through comics in 1966 takes us to the magazine rack. On the cheaper area of some racks we might find magazine-sized comics from M.F., including their wretched seridss Weird. The less said about the terrible stories and art in Weird the better. Thankfully next to Weird,where we will find Warren Magazines. You might remember Warren from my article about the late, lamented Help! Magazine, which sadly recently saw its final issue on the newsstand. Thankfully publisher James Warren has filled that gap with two great horror comics and an even better war comic.
Warren started publishing horror anthology Creepy in late 1964, and that mag has built a deserved reputation as one of the finest horror comics ever published, a worthy successor to the classic EC Comics. In fact, that comparison is appropriate because Creepy and its new sister title Eerie have published great horror tales drawn by the likes of Al Williamson, John Severin, Reed Crandall and Johnny Craig – EC legends all. Even more thrilling, those brilliant artists have been joined by modern counterparts like Gene Colan, the astonishing Alex Toth and, yes, the brilliant Steve Ditko. I told you Ditko gets around! With brilliant writing by the always adept Archie Goodwin, these comics are a tremendous treat.
I’m also a huge fan of Warren’s war comic Blazing Combat. Also written by Goodwin, the three issues thus far include brilliant artwork accompanying piercing and terrifying war tales that tell the gritty truth of war as it really is. They are the second best war comics ever published, behind only the truly great war comics written and edited by Harvey Kurtzman at EC. I’m sure BC doesn’t sell well, so I beg all comics readers to pick up this magazine while they still can. It costs three times as much as a standard comic, at 35¢ per issue, so I understand peoples' reluctance at picking up issues of this amazing series.
Whew! You can see why I say comics may never have been better than they are today. Truly, any trip to the comics rack will bring you some delightful treasures no matter what sorts of comics you like.
One final note: here in my native Brooklyn, there seemed to be some strange event over Mt. Sinai Hospital today. We saw some storks on the roof of the hospital. Anybody with any information on the events at the hospital that day, please contact this magazine.
The Journey is once again up for a Best Fanzine Hugo nomination — and its founder is up for several other awards as well! If you've got a Worldcon membership, or if you just want to see what Gideon's done that's Hugo-worthy, please read his Hugo Eligibility article! Thank you for your continued support.
Winter has come to GermanyA truck frees a tram stuck in the snow in Berlin.
Germany is experiencing an uncommonly early winter and the entire country is currently buried under a blanket of snow. Time to settle down by the fireplace and listen to records such as Neue Songs der Welt by Israeli folk duo Esther and Abi Ofarim, which currently sits at the top of the West German long-play charts.
The comics heart of Europe undoubtedly beats in France and Belgium. For here, comics are considered not disposable entertainment for kids, but a genuine art form. Belgian comics artist Maurice De Bevere, better known as Morris, referred to comics as "the ninth art".
Maurice de Bevere a.k.a. Morris, creator of Lucky Luke
US comic books only focus on a single character or group. The French-Belgian industry is different, since it focusses on anthology magazines, which contain several different serialised comic strips. The most popular comics are later collected in books known as albums.
Three comic magazines dominate the French-Belgian-Dutch market. The Belgian magazines Spirou (Robbedoes in Flemish) and Tintin (Kuifje in Flemish) and the French magazine Pilote. All three have their own distinct style and voice.
Belgium is a multilingual country. The northern part speaks Flemish (a variation of Dutch), the southern part speaks French and a small area near the German border speaks German. As a result, Belgian comic magazines routinely appear in both French and Flemish. And since Flemish and Dutch are so similar, the Netherlands regularly get the Flemish versions of Belgian magazines. Therefore, France, Belgium and the Netherlands largely read the same comics.
De Meir, main shopping street of Antwerp, BelgiumThe Leysstraat in Antwerp, Belgium
Several Franco-Belgian comics have been translated into German. However, since I live only one and a half hours from the Dutch border and about three hours from the Belgian, I frequently pick up comics that haven't yet been translated there.
Humour, dynamic art and big noses: Spirou
Of the three Franco-Belgian comic magazines, Spirou is the oldest, dating back to 1938. Though Spirou also publishes comics with more realistic art, it specialises in zany humour and a dynamic, cartoony art style that has been dubbed the "Marcinelle school", named after the Belgian town of Marcinelle, where the magazine has its headquarters.
The title character has a tangled history. Created by French cartoonist Robert Velter a.k.a. Rob-Vel, Spirou originally was an elevator operator at a luxury hotel. After Rob-Vel joined the Belgian army and was wounded in World War II, the series went through several hands, until the young Belgian cartoonist André Franquin took over in 1947 and made the strip his own. The character Spirou acquired a pet squirrel named Spip and a best friend in the reporter Fantasio. Spirou eventually changed careers and became a reporter as well, though he continues to wear his red bellhop uniform. Together, Spirou and Fantasio travel the world and have many adventures. They also adopted a strange jungle creature known as the Marsupilami.
Spirou and Fantasio meet the Marsupilami
In 1957, a young man named Gaston Lagaffe (literally Gaston the blunder) wandered into the office of the newspaper for which Spirou and Fantasio work. Even though Gaston is terminally lazy and fails at pretty much everything, he was hired as an office boy. Gaston initially appeared as a supporting character in Spirou and Fantasio, but eventually got his own gag strip and became one of the most popular characters in the magazine, though he mostly does nothing at all.
However, the most popular comic published in Spirou is undoubtedly Lucky Luke. A cowboy in the Old West who is known as the man who shoots faster than his shadow, Lucky Luke doesn't shoot to kill, but only to disarm his foes. His constant companions are Jolly Jumper, the smartest horse in the world, and Rantanplan (a parody of heroic film dog Rin Tin Tin), the stupidest dog in the universe. In his adventures, Lucky Luke meets many real life historical figures. His sworn enemies are the Dalton Brothers, bandits and cousins of the historical Dalton Gang. No matter how many times Lucky Luke sends the Daltons to prison, they escape again and again. Created by the above mentioned Maurice de Bevere a.k.a. Morris in 1946, Lucky Luke is very much a parody of American westerns. Spirou also publishes the serious western comic Jerry Spring, written and drawn by Spirou editor-in-chief Joseph Gillain a.k.a. Jijé, but the humorous western adventures of Lucky Luke are a lot more popular.
Rantanplan tries to sniff out the Daltons, while Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper look onLucky Luke spanks Billy the Kid
Another hugely popular series that originated in the pages of Spirou are Les Schtroumpfs a.k.a De Smurfen in Flemish a.k.a. Die Schlümpfe in German. These small blue gnomes were created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Gulliford a.k.a. Peyo and initially appeared as supporting characters in Peyo's comic Johan et Pirlouit about the adventures of the medieval squire Johan and his diminutive friend Pirlouit (Pirrewiet in Flemish) in 1958. The little blue gnomes, who live in a village of mushroom shaped houses in the forest and tangle with the evil wizard Gargamel and his cat Azrael, quickly became popular and got their own comic in 1959. Just this year, the German toy company Schleich began producing collectible Smurf figurines.
Johan and Pirlouit before they met the Smurfs.
A collection of toy Smurfs
Other popular comics to appear in Spirou include the realistic aviation strip Buck Danny by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Hubinon, the detective strip Gil Jourdan by Maurice Tillieux and Boule et Bill, the story of a young boy and his dog by Jean Roba and Maurice Rosy.
Aviation hero Buck DannyA gothic adventure for detective hero Gil Jourdan
Clear lines and great adventures: Tintin
Tintin, the other big Belgian comics magazine, was founded in 1946, though its flagship series has a much longer history. For the intrepid young reporter Tintin and his dog Milou first appeared in the newspaper Le Petit Vingtième in 1929. Created by Belgian artist Georges Remi a.k.a. Hergé and drawn in the so-called ligne claire (clear line) style, Tintin and Milou travelled the world in search of adventure and acquired a sizeable supporting cast, including Captain Haddock, a hard-drinking and swearing sailor, Professor Tournesol, an absentminded genius, Dupont and Dupond, a pair of identical looking and not very competent police detectives, and opera singer Bianca Castafiore, who has taken a shine to Captain Haddock.
Tintin visits the Temple of the Sun.
World War II paper shortages eventually put an end to Tintin's newspaper career, but in 1946 the intrepid young reporter returned for new adventures in glorious colour in the pages of the newly founded Tintin magazines. Though his adventures are mostly set in the real world, Tintin does venture into fantasy and science fiction on occasion, including a remarkably realistically rendered trip to the moon in 1950.
Tintin on the Moon
Suske en Wiske (Bob et Bobette in French), another popular strip in Tintin magazine, also predates the founding of the magazine. Created by Flemish cartoonist Willy Vandersteen and drawn in the ligne claire style, the two mischievous children Suske and Wiske and their Aunt Sidonie first appeared in a daily comic strip in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard in 1945 and moved to Tintin magazine in 1948. Suske and Wiske quickly acquired a supporting cast consisting of the brilliant inventor Professor Barabas, the strongman Jerome and Lambik, part-time detective, part-time plumber and full-time comic relief. Initially, the adventures of Suske and Wiske were largely realistic, but fantasy and science fiction elements soon appeared. And because the inventions of Professor Barabas include a time machine, Suske, Wiske and their friends also frequently go on adventures throughout history.
Suske and Wiske attempt to rescue Wiske's beloved ragdoll from being burned at the stake.Suske and Wiske and Lambik in spaceLambik goes James Bond, while Aunt Sidonie dances with a chimp.
Suske and Wiske are hugely popular in Flanders and the Netherlands. The enterprising Willy Vandersteen also created several comic series for other publishers such as De Rode Ridder (The Red Knight), a medieval adventure series which first appeared in 1959 and Bessy, the adventures of a heroic dog in the Old West, which first appeared in 1952.
The Red Knight visits AtlantisBlake and Mortimer visit Atlantis
Blake and Mortimer by Belgian artist and writer Edgar P. Jacobs debuted in Tintin magazine in 1946. Professor Philip Mortimer, a brilliant Scottish physicist, and his best friend and protector Captain Francis Blake, a Welsh MI5 officer, have many adventures and tangle with their sworn enemy Colonel Olrik. Both Blake and Mortimer were modelled after friends of Edgar P. Jacobs, while the villain Olrik is a self-portrait of the artist. Though nominally a spy series, Blake and Mortimer's adventures often takes them into the realm of science fiction. Among other things, Blake and Mortimer have visited Atlantis, travelled through time and thwarted an attempt to destroy the Earth via guided meteorites. The series is a true delight for science fiction fans.
Blake and Mortimer tackle the Yellow Mark.Blake and Mortimer have dinosaur trouble
Another strip which has appeared in Tintin since the beginning is Corentin by Belgian artist Paul Cuvelier. The titular character is a Breton orphan who runs away to sea and is shipwrecked. A mix of Tarzan and Robinson Crusoe, Corentin has adventures all over the world with a group of human and animal friends and occasionally ventures into the realms of fantasy as well. Cuvelier started out as a fine artist and Corentin is one of the most beautifully drawn Belgian comics.
Alix, the adventures of a young Gaul slave adopted into Roman nobility around the time of Julius Caesar, was created by Jacques Martin and debuted in Tintin in 1948. Other comics to appear in Tintin magazine are Michael Vaillant, the adventures of a formula one driver created in 1957 by Jean Graton, and Ric Hochet, yet another heroic reporter created by cartoonist Gilbert Gascard a.k.a. Tibet and mystery writer André-Paul Duchâteau in 1955.
Alix the IntrepidAlix fights the Black ClawMichel Vaillant on the racecourse of fearReporter Ric Hochet on the run.
Adventures for an older audience: Pilote
The Pirate Barbe-Rouge on the cover of Pilote
Spirou and Tintin are aimed at children (which explains why there are so few female characters, because Belgian youth protection laws forbid even the slightest hint of sex), though many adults read and enjoy them, too. Meanwhile, the French upstart Pilote was aimed at an older audience from its start in 1959 on.
Pilote's most popular strip is undoubtedly Astérix, which premiered in the first issue of the magazine, written by Lucky Luke co-writer René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. The titular character is a Gaul warrior living in a small Breton village, which is resisting Roman occupation during the time of Julius Caesar. Loosely based on historical Gaul chieftain and French national hero Vercingetorix, Astérix is short but shrewd. His best friend Obelix is big, strong and not very smart. Obelix carries around menhir, which he likes to hurl at Romans, and has a dog named Idefix. Astérix and Obelix always remind me of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, though I have no idea if Goscinny and Uderzo are familiar with that series. Together, Astérix, Obelix and the rest of their village run rings around the Roman would-be occupiers, also thanks to a superstrength potion developed by the village druid Panoramix. But Astérix and Obelix are not content to remain in Gaul. Instead, they have adventures all around the Roman empire. They just visited Egypt and met Cleopatra, who looks remarkably like Elizabeth Taylor in the recent movie.
Astérix the Gaul and his friend Obelix
Whereas the above mentioned Alix treats the subject of the Roman occupation of Gaul seriously and shows its hero as torn between his Gaul and Roman identity, Astérix uses the same historical material for comedy and satire. The series is full of puns and allusions to contemporary French politics. It's also hilarious – at least in the original French. For the German translation, publisher Rolf Kauka renamed the heroes Siggi and Babarras and replaced the allusions to contemporary French politics with allusions to contemporary West German politics. Unfortunately, the Kauka translations are not at all funny and also managed to slip in antisemitic stereotypes, which did not appear in the original. René Goscinny was not at all amused and withdrew the translation license from Kauka, which led to a lawsuit that is still ongoing. I sincerely hope that Astérix will eventually get the German translation it deserves.
Astérix and Obelix meet Cleopatra
The other breakout comic to debut in Pilote is the western comic Blueberry, created by the Belgian writer Jean-Michel Charlier and the young French artist Jean Giraud, who occasionally also goes by Moebius. The comic initially appeared as Fort Navajo in 1963, but the unlikely named US Cavalry Lieutenant Mike Steve Blueberry became so popular that he took over the comic. Unlike the clean-cut heroes of other western comics, Blueberry is rough and unshaven, more reminiscent of Clint Eastwood in the recent Italian western Per un pugno di dollari than of John Wayne. Blueberry cares deeply about justice and abhors racism, whether it's aimed at Blacks or Native Americans. The comic would be good either way, but it's Jean Giraud's brilliant art which turns it into something truly special.
Fort Navajo, the first adventure of Lieutenant Blueberry
Other comics to appear in Pilote include the pirate adventure Barbe-Rouge by Jean-Michel Charlier and Victor Huginon, which debuted in 1959, the aviation series Tanguy et Laverdure by Jean-Michael Charlier and Albert Uderzo, which also debuted in 1959, and the gag strip Achille Talon, created by Michel Regnier a.k.a. Greg in 1963.
Going Dutch
The Dutch mostly read the Flemish editions of Franco-Belgian comics. However, they also have some titles of their own. One feature that's unique to Dutch comics is that they have no speech bubbles, only captions.
The typical Dutch comic format, here seen in a page of Eric de Noorman.
One of the most popular Dutch comics is Eric de Noorman (Eric the Norseman) about the adventures of a Viking warrior and his family. Created in 1946 by Hans G. Kresse, Eric de Noorman first appeared in the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. The strip was picked up by other newspapers and also published in the oblong piccolo format from 1948 on.
Hans G. Kresse's artwork for Eric de Noorman
Another popular Dutch comic strip is Paulus de boskabouter (Paulus the Woodgnome). Created by Jan van Oort a.k.a. Jean Dulieu in 1946, the adventures of Paulus and his animal friends first appeared in the newspaper Het Vrije Volk and also spawned a series of popular radio dramas.
The adventures of Paulus the Woodgnome
Kapitein Rob is a fascinating mix of sea adventure and science fiction, because De Vrijheid (Freedom), the sailing ship helmed by the titular captain, can also travel through time as well as space. The strip was created by writer Evert Werkman and artist Pieter Kuhn and debuted in 1945 in the newspaper Het Parool.
A science fictional adventure for Kapitein Rob
However, the most highly regarded comic in the Netherlands is a funny animal comic named Tom Poes (Tom Cat). The adventures of the anthropomorphic cat Tom Poes and his best friend, the aristocratic bear Olivier B. Bommel, first appeared in the newspaper De Telegraaf in 1941. Tom Poes started out as a children's comic, but quickly became popular among adults due to the satirical allusions and idiosyncratic language use of its creator Marten Toonder. Like Erika Fuchs, the brilliant German translator of the Donald Duck comics, many of the expressions and neologisms Marten Toonder introduced in Tom Poes have become part of the Dutch language.
Tom Poes Weekly
The erotic space adventures of Barbarella
Delightful as the French-Belgian-Dutch comics are, female characters are sadly rare in those strips and female main characters are even rarer. However, there is one exception and it's even a science fiction comic.
Created by Jean-Claude Forest, Barbarella first appeared in the French periodical V Magazine in 1962. The protagonist is a young female space explorer who happens to be a dead ringer for French movie star Brigitte Bardot. Barbarella travels from planet to planet, meets various aliens with whom she engages in rather intimate first contact. Barbarella also loses her clothes a lot.
Barbarella on the cover of her scandalous first album.Barbarella with her clothes on for once.
As long as the strip appeared only in V Magazine, which is similar to Playboy in the US, no one minded. But when the album was released last year, it caused a minor scandal and was banned as pornographic, which only served to make Barbarella even more popular.
Jean-Claude Forest also illustrates covers for French science fiction magazines.
Hard as it may be to imagine, this article only offers a brief glimpse into the wide and wonderful world of Franco-Belgian-Dutch comics. Many of these comics are not yet accessible to English speaking readers, but I hope that will change eventually.
Here at the Journey, we occasionally visit the wonderful world of comic books, mostly from the US but also from the UK. However, comics have long been a global phenomenon and so I'm presenting you the comics of East and West Germany.
Superheroes may rule in the US, but in West Germany, you will have a hard time finding American superhero comics, unless you have befriended an American GI who can hook you up with the latest US comics.
Erika Fuchs, the brilliant Germany translator of the Donald Duck comics
Instead, the most popular US comics in West Germany are none than the Disney comics featuring Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and friends. A large part of the reason why the Disney comics are so popular in West Germany is the brilliant work of translator Erika Fuchs, who introduced inventive wordplay and allusions to classic literature into the comics and thus gained a large adult fanbase. The various linguistic "donaldisms" created by Erika Fuchs have even entered the regular German language by now.
Inspired by the success of the Disney comics, in 1953 West German artist Rolf Kauka created his own comic magazine called Till Eulenspiegel, named after a popular trickster character from German legend. However, a pair of clever foxes named Fix and Foxi quickly became the most popular characters and in 1955, the magazine was retitled as Fix und Foxi. The two foxes quickly adopted a whole menagerie of animal friends such as the wolf Lupo and his cousin Lupinchen, the mole Pauli and the sister Paulinchen, the raven Knox, the hare Hops, the hedgehog Stops and the mouse Mausi. Other characters to appear in the magazine are "Tom and Klein Biberherz" (Little Beaverheart), a cowboy character and his indigenous friend, and "Mischa im Weltraum" (Mischa in Outer Space), a humorous science fiction comic. Those who have read the Archie comics will find that Mischa looks very familiar.
Fix and Foxi and friends"Mischa in Space" on the cover of Fix and Foxi. Mischa looks very reminiscent of US character Archie.
Mecki: The Amazing Adventures of a Little Hedgehog
Fix and Foxi are not the only anthropomorphic animals in West German comics. There is also Mecki the hedgehog, whose tangled history predates the two foxes. Mecki first appeared in 1938 – still nameless and not in comic format at all, but in an animated puppet film adaptation of the Grimm fairy tale "The Race between Hare and Hedgehog". The film spawned a series of picture postcards featuring the clever little hedgehog.
Mecki debuts on the cover of Hör Zu! No. 43 in October 1949
In 1949, one of those picture postcards landed on the desk of Eduard Rhein, Renaissance man (in now 65 years, Rhein has been a Zeppelin engineer, inventor, technical writer, violinist and novelist) and editor-in-chief of the radio listings magazine Hör Zu! (Listen!). Rhein was looking for a mascot for the magazine, a character who would offers snarky commentary on the program listings. He promptly adopted the hedgehog and named him Mecki. The character debuted on the cover of issue 43 of Hör Zu!, still as a puppet character in a pre-war picture postcard. When Rhein ran out of picture postcards to reprint, he recruited cartoonist Reinhold Escher to draw new adventures of the brave little hedgehog.
Mecki and Micki get married with all their friends in attendanceA Mecki comic page from 1951
From 1951 on, one page Mecki strips appeared in Hör Zu!, initially as standalone stories and later as serialised adventures. Mecki also quickly acquired friends and family, including his wife Micki and the two children Mucki and Macki, the penguin Charly, the Schrat, a permanently sleepy gnome, the seven Syrian hamsters, the seaman Captain Petersen, the cat Murr and the duck Watsch. Together, these characters travelled the world, ventured into various fantasylands and even conquered the Moon and Mars as early as 1953.
Mecki and friends visit the moon in glorious colourMecki and friends visit a lunar inn
Beginning in 1952, Mecki's adventures also appeared in full colour picture books. The first book, Mecki im Schlaraffenland (Mecki in Cockaigne) was written by Eduard Rhein and illustrated by Reinhold Escher, but from book two on, Wilhelm Petersen illustrated the Mecki books and later also shared artist duties with Reinhold Escher on the comic strip. Reinhold Escher's style is more cartoony, while Petersen's is more naturalistic, but both of them are highly talented artists. As a result the Mecki strips and particularly the picture books look gorgeous.
Mecki and his extended family eventually returned to the medium that birthed him for a series of eighteen short puppet movies. The toy manufacturer Steiff also produces dolls of Mecki and his family. I got the complete set of Mecki, Micki, Macki and Mucki as a birthday gift some time ago and treasure them.
The Mecki family toys as produced by Steiff
In spite of Mecki's popularity, his future is uncertain, for his creator Eduard Rhein left Hör Zu! last year – not voluntarily, it is rumoured. And Rhein's replacement shows little interest in Mecki. The comic strips continue to appear in Hör Zu!, but the annual picture book has been cancelled. Nonetheless, I hope that the friendly little hedgehog and his friends will continue to delight readers for a long time to come.
In the News: Nick Knatterton and Bild Lilli
Daily comic strips can be found in many West German newspapers. However, most of these are reprints of American comic strips such as The Phantom, Blondie or The Heart of Juliet Jones. Homegrown German comic strips are rare.
One exception is the square-jawed private detective Nick Knatterton, whose adventures appeared between 1950 and 1959 in the magazine Quick.
Box art for the Nick Knatterton boardgame
Nick Knatterton's real name is Nikolaus Kuno Baron von Knatter. His mother Baroness von Knatter was an eager reader of murder mysteries. Inspired by her, Nick Knatterton decided to become a private detective and changed his name, so as not to embarrass his aristocratic family. Knatterton was a confirmed bachelor for many years, until he met and eventually married the heiress Linda Knips.
Nick Knatterton was created by Manfred Schmidt, a cartoonist who hails from my hometown of Bremen. Shortly after World War II, Schmidt came across a Superman comic. Inspired by this new to him medium, he created Nick Knatterton. Other inspirations for the character were Sherlock Holmes as portrayed by Hans Albers in the 1937 movie Der Mann der Sherlock Holmes war (The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes) as well as the American dime novel hero Nat Pinkerton, whose adventures a young Manfred Schmidt had devoured in the 1920s.
Hans Albers as not Holmes and Heinz Rühmann as not Watson in "The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes" (1937). Note the resemblance to Nick Knatterton.
What makes the Knatterton comics so amusing are not just Schmidt's crisp drawings, but also the political satire that Schmidt, who considers himself a Communist, inserts into the strip.
Whereas Nick Knatterton is very political, Bild Lilli, another homegrown West German comic strip character, is not overly political at all. Created by cartoonist Reinhard Beuthien for the tabloid Bild, the attractive Lilli is a ditzy young woman who works as a secretary, but dreams of catching a wealthy husband. The mildly risqué Lilli strip was popular enough to spawn a Lilli fashion doll and a line of matching outfits. But sexist humour fell out of favour and so the strip was cancelled in 1961.
This could have been the end of Lilli, but instead she continued her career under a different name. For in 1958, an American tourist named Ruth Handler purchased a Bild Lilli doll and was so impressed by the idea of a fashion doll that she created her own version. Named Barbie after Mrs. Handler's daughter, this doll became a huge worldwide hit.
Separated at birth: Bild Lilli on the left and Barbie on the right
Heroes to Carry in Your Pocket: Sigurd, Falk, Tibor, Jörg and Nick
One of West Germany's foremost comic publishers is the Walter Lehning Verlag, which started publishing comics in 1953, beginning with reprints of Italian series such as the jungle hero Akim and the western hero El Bravo. Those had been originally published in the so-called piccolo format, small and wide booklets in horizontal format that look like individual newspaper strips stapled together, so the German editions used the same format.
Sigurd the noble knight
The advantage of the piccolo format was that at twenty pfennig apiece, the comics were cheaper than those published in regular magazine format. As a result, the reprints of Italian action comics were so popular that Lehning commissioned Swiss German artist and writer Hansrudi Wäscher to create several new series in the same format.
Sigurd fights monsters
Wäscher's first creation for Lehning was Sigurd, a medieval knight who had more than three hundred adventures between 1953 and 1960. Sigurd was a big success and was quickly followed by Falk, another knightly hero, Tibor, a jungle hero in the mould of Tarzan who was created as a replacement for the Italian Akim character, Jörg, a young nobleman who experiences adventures during the thirty-years-war, and Nick, der Weltraumfahrer (Nick the Spaceman), a science fiction comic.
Falk, yet another noble knightTibor, son of the jungleThe science fictional adventures of Nick the SpacemanJörg experiences the horrors of the Thirty-Years War
However, the prolific Hansrudi Wäscher also worked for other comic publishers. He created Nizar, yet another jungle hero, for the publisher Kölling Verlag as well as Titanus, a science fiction comic, for the Gerstmayer Verlag. The Titanus comics had a special gimmick, because they came with 3D goggles.
Terry Starr, the blond and square-jawed hero of Titanus.
Adventures Behind the Iron Curtain: Mosaik
Western comic books also found their way across the iron curtain, to the delight of East German youths and the despair of the Communist authorities. And so in 1955, the East German publisher Verlag Neues Leben created their own comics magazine called Mosaik. Initially, the magazine appeared quarterly and switched to a monthly schedule in 1957. Due to the vagaries of Socialist paper production, Mosaik issues are not easy to find on the newsstands of East Germany and always sell out quickly, unless you know someone who will reserve a copy for you.
The Digedags travel into space
The stars of Mosaik are three cobolds named Dig, Dag and Digedag. The Digedags, as they are collectively known, have amazing adventures in time and space. So far, they have fought pirates, founded a circus, travelled to ancient Rome and into outer space and meet various important historical figures. Their latest adventure has taken them to the Middle Ages, where they picked up a new travelling companion in the clumsy knight Ritter Runkel.
The Digedags fight pirates.
So how Socialist are the Digedags? The answer is, "It's complicated." During their epic space adventure, the Digedags were dragged into a conflict between the Republican Union, a Socialist utopia, and their sworn enemies, the Großneonian Reich, an expansionist capitalist hell state ruled by people dressed in what looks like SS uniforms. But while the space saga wore its Socialist heart on its sleeve, the following inventor cycle was the opposite. For the inspirational inventors from history the Digedags encountered include not just East German hero Otto von Guericke, 17th century scientist and mayor of Magdeburg, but also capitalists such as James Watt and even Werner von Siemens, aristocrat and capitalist, whom the Digedags meet as a young lieutenant in the Prussian army.
The uniform worn by the villainous commander of the Großneonian space station does look strangely familiar.
However, the main objective of Mosaik is apolitical fun, which is also why the magazine is so much more popular than other publications from the same company such as Die Trommel (The Drum), the official magazine of the Ernst Thälmann Young Pioneers, which includes such thrilling comic strips as "The Girl from the Soviet War Monument" or "The Red Climbers".
"Das Mädchen vom Ehrenmal" (The Girl from the Soviet War Monument), an inspirational comic strip from "Die Trommel" (The Drum), the official magazine of the Ernst Thälmann Young Pioneers.
The Digedags were the creation of cartoonist Hannes Hegen, but in true Socialist fashion the comic is created by a collective of writers and artists. The current head writer is Lothar Dräger. The main artist is Lona Rietschel, one of the few women to work in German comics.
And that's it for the comics of East and West Germany. Next month, I will introduce you to the comics of Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
We are now well into the autumn here in Britain. Leaves are turning brown; the nights are getting colder and the shops are getting supplies in for Guy Fawkes Day.
Old Cartoon of Guy Fawkes Day
For those unfamiliar with the British tradition, we celebrate the foiling of a 17th century plot to blow up the king and parliament. The festival is not without controversy, where in some place effigies of the Pope are still burned. Debates are often had in my family, both from the rightness of the festival and those members who find the fireworks bring back terrible memories of the blitz.
As we are preparing to celebrate a 360-year-old event, the future is slowly coming into our everyday lives. A woman in New York has been charged with traffic offences through a computer program. Whilst in Britain an official recommendation has been made for use of more audiovisual equipment in higher education.
This can also be seen in our entertainment this Autumn. On TV we not just the return of Doctor Who but the exquisite new shows Out of the Unknown and Thunderbirds. In the cinemas we have two excellent scientific disaster films, The Crack in the World and The Bedford Incident. On the book front, I am looking forward to the upcoming releases of John Brunner’s The Squares of the City and Thomas M. Disch’s Genocides.
There is one pleasure I have not mentioned before. That of going down to my local corner shop and picking up the latest British comic books.
Comics do not get anywhere near the praise that science fiction in other media does. In an interview before his passing, C. S. Lewis said:
One thing that weighs against us heavily is the horrible shadow of comics.
However, I contend they are an important part of the field and Britain is producing some of the best right now.
Pre-War Origins
Whilst satirical cartoons have been around as long as printing presses have been setup in Britain and newspaper strips and text comic publications have been around since the 19th century, the story of comic books as we know them today came about over the last few decades.
Earlier this century, the most popular reading material for juvenile boys and girls were story papers. These were low cost productions featuring illustrated text stories, typically in the bent of Victorian adventures.
The Union Jack story paper featuring the extremely popular Sexton Blake.
At the same time there were a few successful annuals published of characters who appeared in newspaper strips, such as Daily Express’ Rupert Bear.
The first Rupert book from 1936
Dundee based publisher D. C. Thompson combined these two ideas together and began producing what we would now see as the typical British humor comic book. With single- or double-page comedic stories, like watching a satirical sketch show. Whilst the story papers tended to be upper class adventure stories, these new comic books had a more anarchic and working class bent.
First issue of The Dandy, beginning DC Thompson’s foray into comic books..
However, with the advent of World War 2 and the ensuing paper shortage many story papers and comics ceased publication. Those comics that did survive, such as The Dandy and The Beano, remain incredibly popular today. Also, some of the pre-war story papers continue to be published, such as Boy’s Own Paper.
The June issue of Boy’s Own Paper
Press Outrage and Religious Revival
Just as in America, the 50s represented a drastic change in the comics market due to a panic over their corrupting influence on children. Apparently arriving as ballast on ships, US comics began to arrive in Britain after the war. These included horror and crime comics which resulted in a heavy backlash against a whole range of imported comics.
A “morally corrupting” issue of Captain Marvel sent to the government for review
Interestingly, this panic was one that seemed to be supported by all regions of society. Conservatives were appalled by their content, liberal intellectuals considered them trash not worth defending and communists saw them as American cultural imperialism. The media published lurid stories blaming comics for any act of delinquency and the teacher’s unions pushed the government to act.
There are two important results for us. Firstly, parliament passed the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, outlawing picture stories that may corrupt a young person. Even though no one is yet to be prosecuted under this, it is still on the books and it (along with general import restrictions) has severely curtailed the number of imported comics to the UK.
Secondly, was the establishing of an alternative. Rev. Morris was an Anglican vicar running the Christian magazine, The Anvil. Seeing the American comic books coming in he was apparently impressed with the quality of the artwork but disgusted by the content. He had already been producing a small amount of comic strips with artist Frank Hampson, so together they launched Eagle.
This followed the anthology format of DC Thompson comics but with a few notable differences. Firstly, the strips tend to be weekly serializations with some stories continuing for almost an entire year, allowing for much more content and depth. Secondly, the content a mix of different genres. The comics of the first issue consisted of:
• Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future – Science Fiction
• The Adventures of P.C. 49 – Police drama
• Captain Pugwash – Humorous pirate stories
• Professor Brittain Explains – Science fact
• Seth and Shorty – Western
• Skippy the Kangaroo – Humorous big game hunter stories
• Heroes of the Clouds – History
• Discovering the Countryside – Science Fact
• Rob Conway – Contemporary Adventure
• The Adventurer – Historical Christian adventure
Finally, issues of Eagle also contain text stories, sometimes serializing memoirs of well-known figures such as Winston Churchill. This last point has helped them gain more acceptance than the longstanding humor comics.
This mold Eagle has established is the style of most comic books today. Probably the only major change recently is increased length, as many have expanded from 18 pages to 40, allowing for a wider range of content.
Not So Heroic
Unlike in America, superheroes are not common. The biggest, Marvelman (an imitation of Captain Marvel), ceased publication in 1963.
The final issue of Marvelman
Probably the closest is Garth (Daily Mirror) a super-strong adventurer whose tales tend towards the cosmic:
His stories have a John Carter or Flash Gordon feel and will probably appeal to fans of pulpy adventures.
There is one other interesting newer addition in this category, The Spider (Lion). A kind reserve Batman, he is a supervillain who uses his technical skill and intelligence to commit daring crimes:
What I like about this comic is the balance it strikes between us being horrified by his actions and still rooting for him to carry out these deeds. Highly recommended.
Journey into Space
Right from the cover of the first issue of Eagle, space adventures have been central to British comics. Dan Dare continues to be the most popular of these stories in his war against The Mekon and other space threats.
The Daleks have become a pop culture phenomenon in Britain so it seems inevitable they would get their own comic. However, splitting them off from The Doctor (who gets his own adventures in TV Comic), has created a great opportunity to explore them in more depth.
In the TV Century 21 strip the Daleks we get to see are still ruthless and evil but instead of facing off against our noble time travelers they often face off against other despicable races and are more than happy to use genocide to fulfil their ends.
The golden dalek emperor celebrating planetary destruction
What we are left with is a fascinatingly nihilistic strip that suggests that in the daleks’ part of the universe there is no place for kindness. It is only about victory by any means.
The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Ranger) has only just started but already looks to be an incredibly ambitious space epic. After a spacecraft crashes on Earth, Professor Richard Haddon spends his life trying to translate their language and discovers the entire history of their civilization.
This only began last month but we have already seen the Vorgs and their leader Trigo trying to build a city but dealing with the threat of the aggressive Loka:
And seems to be setting up for a grand tale of civilizations that could be on par with Asimov's Foundation. I am eagerly awaiting future instalments.
Whilst space stories may be essential to British comics, spy stories, as with every other medium, are appearing more and more.
Spies in disguise
Probably the most beloved comics today are the newspaper strip adventures of James Bond and Modesty Blaise.
But two of the best British science fiction comic strips are also spy tales.
Vic Gunn (Lion) tells the story of an alternative Britain where Emperor Rudolph has taken over as dictator of Britain and agent Gunn leads the resistance. This year’s main event has been The Battle for Liverpool
Here a resistance cell has emerged in Liverpool. Gunn is determined to make it a free city, Rudolph is determined to crush the resistance by any means necessary.
What I most appreciate is how serialized it is. Rather than Gunn simply winning week to week, the story started with Rudolph’s plan to takeover and has been a continuing battle between the two, with Rudolph winning so far more often than Gunn.
On a different note we have Lady Penelope (TV Century 21). Before appearing in Thunderbirds, she had her own strip with her and Parker’s adventures to bring down villainous threats to the future world.
What I like most about this strip are the unusual characters of Penelope and Parker. Lady Penelope is as competent as anyone in The Avengers but is unapologetically feminine and charming. Parker, on the other hand, is very much a working-class hero, a burglar who speaks in a cockney dialect which is a distinct contrast to the upper crust figures that dominate spy literature.
High Adventure
Space and spy stories are not the only kind of adventure strips that may be of interest to SFF readers.
I love a touch of Sword and Sorcery, so Maroc The Mighty (Lion) appeals to me.
John Maroc is a 13th Century Crusader in possession of The Hand of Zar, a magic amulet that gives him superhuman strength. He tries to travel back to England, righting wrongs along the way.
Although the stories will have the irritating tendency to contrive reason why The Hand will not work, they are still fun adventure stories akin to ITC’s The Adventures of Sir Lancelot.
On a more science fictional note, we have The Human Guinea Pig (Eagle). Mike Lane acts as a tester for Prof. Lively’s inventions which will inevitably have terrible results. Such as a formula that reverses evolution:
The best part is the relationship between Lane and Lively. Despite the trials they go through they remain good colleagues and are always willing to work together for scientific solutions to the problems.
Fuzzy Little Satire
One final strip I want to spotlight is Flook (Daily Mail). This newspaper strip by two jazz musicians at may seem to have little to interest the SFF fan, being the adventures of a little boy and his furry friend Flook. However, the contents of it are a sharp satire on contemporary Britain and worth everyone's while.
A good recent example is Flook having to deal with racist attacks with the Klan even trying to kill him and needing to use magic to outsmart them.
There is an incredible skill on display balancing the darkness of the material with clever humor and a lightness of touch that make it something outstanding.
In Conclusion
These are only a sample of the great comics available in the British market right now. I did not get to touch on the interconnected Gerry Anderson universe, The Iron Man (not the Marvel character), The Toys of Doom or Space Cadet.
My best advice? Go to your local corner shop and pick-up a few comic books that look to have a more serious bent. Alternatively, look at the strips in one of tabloids. There is such a variety in each I am sure you will find something to enjoy.
Hello friends! If you wanted to know something about me, I enjoy old-fashioned things, and I mostly read Dick Tracy thanks to my father's love of the comics. I'm therefore something of a novice when it comes to new comics. When my good pal Gideon (the Traveler) recently handed me a stack of a variety of comics to peruse, I decided to choose something different from my usual adventurous fare. I slid past the usual Batman and other superhero comics, and went straight for the Girl’s Love Stories. The most recent issue, Girl's Love Stories #115, is representative: full of slice of life stories about, well, young women in love. Something like this needed to be read with bon-bons and Cola if I wanted the whole intended effect, but it's just as fun on it's own.
Note: I have never reviewed anything, especially a comic before. I usually just hand it off and tell a friend 'read this, I liked it!' But Gideon and I thought it would be fun if I gave it a shot, so let's go!
Girl on the Run.
April O'Day is a young starlet with big dreams on her mind, and like most girls, romance. When Nick Hanson, the dashing young assistant director is teaching April to fall in love on the screen, she begins to fall for him for real.
Oh reader, I was captivated. It wasn't good versus evil; it was your simple love story. Girl meets Boy, Girl literally throws herself at Boy, Boy…isn't interested? Oh no, I'm laughing now. Did she really think this tactic would work? After a good back and forth, and an angry pursuer getting punched, they lean in close… and you'll just have to check it out for yourself, now won't you?
Love- Love- Love!
Helen is surrounded by people in love, literally! Her gal-friends tell her all about their lives and the guys they're in love with, but she has the startling realization: she has never been in love!
Reader, I'm laughing again. I shouldn't — it happens to people outside of the world of comics, but not as dramatically. Anyway, she gets advice from her friends and decides to try it out to no avail. She berates herself for being unable to fall in love, and gets jealous of her friends in the process. But, a mysterious stranger turns up one evening…could he be the turning point in her love life?
There are your usual letter sections, with young girls getting advice from an editor, and an absolutely darling art section, where girls can send in fashion designs. All the designs are smart, cool, and something I could and would make and wear out. But this isn't a fashion review, sadly. [Next article? Gwyn, I think we've found a kindred spirit! (Ed.)]
Part-Time Girlfriend!
Chris is madly in love with her boyfriend Perry. Their young love is the kind that is simply infectious. They kiss every few seconds while saying goodbye, and they are constantly seeing each other. A few days go by without getting together, so, feeling lonely, Chris goes out on a drive, and she sees none other than Perry, and gasp, another girl?!
But it's ok, reader: she's Sandra, an old friend. Everything is fine and dandy, and they all live happily ever- oh it's not done? He kisses the 'old friend' in the darkened theater? Oh my goodness, I may have have to get some bon-bons. Chris is crushed, they both talk the next day, and she needs time to think everything over (completely understandable, but personally I think she should dump him and go on about her merry life). She goes to visit an aunt in the next town over, and the aunt sets her up with a guy next door, and she decides to go on a date with him, and another date, and another. But they realize neither of them love the other, and they part as friends. She comes back home to tell Perry she's alright with her seeing Sandra, but she hopes he will come back to her.
Whoa boy. That's an interesting way of taking things. This could either end well, or in tears. I quietly munch another bon-bon (yes, I gave into temptation halfway through and secured some!). Next time it's movie night, Chris calls Carl, the guy from her aunt's town, and they go out to a movie, and Perry sees them together. He eventually confronts Chris, but do they reconcile? Oh I would tell you, but you must read this. I think this was my favorite story.
Stuffed
I found these vignettes fascinating. Girl's Love Stories#115 is perfect if you are having a terrible day, and need something of a pick me up, or a quick giggle. As someone who doesn't read enough comics, I'm now looking forward to reading as many genres as possible — including some good old super-hero comics thrown in for good measure. I can't wait to share more reviews with you!
And Gideon: you're not getting this issue back, friend.
Yesterday I had the special pleasure of seeing my favorite band on the big screen once again. Of course, I'm talking about the Beatles and Help!. You gotta see it. Let me tell you, folks, the film is a laugh riot. I giggled all the way through the silly tale which has Ringo Starr chased throughout the world because he possesses a ring which is a sacred relic for a Far Eastern cult. The music is wonderful, of course, but it's also a tremendously silly flick, wackier than A Hard Day's Night. I know you've already bought the LP (which, sadly, is only about half by the Fab Four) but great as the album is, the movie is so much better. Go see Help! while you can! I certainly plan to watch it again.
Sadly, while the Beatles' Help! rides the top of the world's music charts and marks another high point in the career of the Beatles, another Help! is breathing its last and represents a low point in another man's career. Thankfully both versions of Help! have brought me a lot of laughs.
Maybe you've seen Help! magazine on the stands next to Redbook and Look and were curious about this strange-looking mag. Maybe you even picked up an issue, perhaps the May 1965 issue with the humorous cover below, and giggled at the weird and wonderful material inside it. Sadly, the latest issue of Help! will be its last. The death of this very special mag has an interesting history well worth sharing. I hope you'll read along and discover why you should seek Help! magazine in the back issue bins and join me in mourning its passing.
MADman Harvey Kurtzman
Before we talk about Help! itself, let's talk about its editor, a genius by the name of Harvey Kurtzman. Kurtzman created, edited and orchestrated the glory days of MAD magazine as published by the late, lamented E.C. Comics. Under Kurtzman, MAD was a brilliant skewering of American comics, TV series, movies and life in general. Who can forget his absurdly silly "Superduperman", which skewered the Man of Steel with delighted glee and the so-many-jokes-you-have-to-squint-to-read-them-all art by Wallace Wood and Will Elder or any of a hundred equally scathing and brilliant satires?
The first 23 issues of MAD were published in comic book form by E.C., before moving to the familiar magazine format. Reportedly, MAD is one of the bestselling mags in the country these days, but, sadly, Kurtzman was unable to share in the profits from his creation. According to interviews with Kurtzman and his peers which appeared in E.C. fanzines, the editor had a falling-out with publisher William M. Gaines which resulted in Kurtzman abandoning his creation and creating a mag closer to his own vision.
Or, to be more precise, Kurtzman created a series of mags closer to his own vision. The first of those new magazines, dubbed Trump, was a gorgeously printed magazine, featuring slick and art (often painted in oils) on glossy paper. Published by Hugh Hefner of Playboy fame, Trump was a smart, sophisticated publication. Sadly, it fell victim to a cash crunch in Hefner's business and went out of business after only two issues. A second, similar mag, named Humbug, was self-funded but failed to find an audience, perhaps because it was poorly printed on cheap newsprint.
Thankfully, help came to Kurtzman from an unexpected source. Philadelphia-based James Warren, publisher of Famous Monsters and similar mags, was a big fan of Kurtzman's work. After a brief negotiation, Kurtzman had his fourth shot at creating a humor mag, though he would have to make some compromises. Budgets were tighter and production values shoddier than Humbug. But making a virtue of necessity, the great editor was able to produce a magazine unique on American newsstands.
Help for Tired Minds
Premiering with an issue cover-dated August 1960, Help! offered a different vision from Kurtzman's previous mags. For one thing, Warren's budgets forced compromises which clearly both pinched and intrigued the expert editor. Instead of drawn covers, for instance, Help! often featured photos of comedians on their covers doing silly things. With well-known celebs like Ernie Kovacs, Sid Caesar and Jerry Lewis on the first three covers, the mag made a clear and simple implied pitch: if readers enjoyed these stars on TV, they would also enjoy reading Help!.
Inside the magazine, readers were treated to a hodgepodge of different material. Help! was a freewheeling magazine in which every page turn provided an unexpected treat. Some features were immutable. Every issue had a fumetti, or photo comic strip, in which actors (as well as Kurtzman, his assistant Gloria Steinem, Chicago comedian and radio personality Jean Shepard, and actors such as young Brit John Cleese) played parts in a comedy sketch presented like a comic strip. Some of those fumetti were goofy and some were strange, but Kurtzman deserves credit for trying something very different from the norm in order to fill his pages.
That said, Help! also included work every reader would expect, including outstanding strips by some of America's funniest cartoonists. Jack Davis worked for Help! at the same time he worked for the ongoing MAD. So did Arnold Roth, and Will Elder, and John Severin, and the list went on. Many issues featured some of their finest comics work. The staff wasn't limited to Kurtzman's old pals, either. Young cartoonists included Gilbert Shelton, who brought his manic "Wonder Wart-Hog" strips from the University of Texas newspaper to this mag.
Some of the finest work in the magazine was provided by Kurtzman himself. His "Goodman Beaver" strips, the tales of a young
naïf adrift in the baffling corporate world, is a legitimate side-splitter as well as a scathing satire of American professionalism and greed. "Beaver" can also be read as a hilariously bitter spit in the eye of a world Kurtzman dreamed of inhabiting but for which his own hubris would not allow him to experience.
As if that wasn't enough, Kurtzman also included a generous collection of text humor. Works by Jean Shepard, Paul Dehn, William Price Fox, and many others, appeared every issue. One of the most important features of the mag demonstrated Kurtzman's commitment to the younger generation. The ongoing "Help!'s Public Gallery" feature included art by artists who were building their skills. I was especially impressed by the energy and verve of above page by young R. Crumb, who looks like he will be going places. I've also enjoyed work in the Public Gallery by such new artists as Jay Lynch, Skip Williamson and Terry Gilliam.
No More Help from Harvey Kurtzman
Sadly, though, a circulation of roughly 115,000 copies per issue was just not enough to keep Help! alive. With issue number 26, on stands this month, Kurtzman's latest passion project has faded away like his previous projects. Thankfully it went under with perhaps the finest issue so far, which includes a shockingly hilarious satire of southern bigotry called "Brother, Have You Stomped a Nigra" by Terry Gilliam and Dave Crossley. This humor has a vicious bite and perfectly encapsulates the influence Kurtzman has had over the younger generation of cartoonists. It seems to speak to the times we live in, the struggles over the Civil Rights Act, and the never-ending power of Dixie. Hopefully the racism mocked here will be gone in the next few years. It's hard to imagine systematic racism surviving the next 20 years, let alone the 20th century.
Help! was a worthy failure, but a failure nonetheless. Reports have Glliam moving to England, perhaps to work on a project with Cleese, while Kurtzman will continue his Little Annie Fanny strips for Playboy. Meanwhile, publisher James Warren is replacing Help! with a new horror mag named Creepy. Issue #4 of that mag was also recently released and features work by some of Kurtzman's follow alumni. But that's a story for another column.
Hmm… wonder if there's still time to catch a matinee today of the Beatles film…
Secret agent mania is everywhere these days. After the gilt-edge success of Goldfinger last year, the passion for dashing, daring, handsome men of action has reached a fever pitch. I’ve been picking up paperbacks of Matt Helm, Nick Carter, John LeCarre and even Doc Savage at my local Woolworths, devouring the thrilling adventures of these men of action, ready with a quick shot, a fast woman and a speedy sportscar.
I’ve also been passionately watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on NBC. I love so many of the quirks of that show – setting the entrance to UNCLE HQ inside a flower shop, for instance, as well as the dashing agents Solo and Kuryakin and the whole larger-than-life setting of it all.
Comics have had their share of secret agents over recent years, too, from “John Force, Magic Agent” appearing in the back pages of American Comics Group’s Unknown Worlds late last year to the spy adventures of Charlton’s new Sarge Steel (which includes impressive art by an up-and-comer named Dick Giordano – watch that name, folks) to a two issue DC pilot spotlight on spy King Faraday in last year’s Showcase #50 and 51 (albeit reprints from 1950, in the latter case – DC has never been a company known for their innovation).
But no comics company has fully jumped on the spy trend, not in the way it cries out for.
Until, that is, this month’s issue of Strange Tales, starring a super spy named Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The great Stan Lee and Jack Kirby deliver one of the most intriguing, exciting, whizzbang first adventures of any comic story in recent memory, full of bizarre gadgets, nasty villains and a dynamic dollop of mighty Marvel action.
As if they felt constrained by their small twelve-page allocation in this issue, Kirby and Lee deliver a story in which everyone seems to be moving at top speed, showing off cool gadgets, discussing nasty spy rings, showing flying cars and flying aircraft carriers and all the other trappings of a great adventure tale. Even in large set-pieces, like the scene above (which looks oddly like a key location in last year’s film Doctor Strangelove), it seems every character has their own bit of business to take care of, their own set of a million tasks to accomplish and no time to complete them. These are busy, important men on the mission to save the Earth, and they will work together with everything they have in order to defeat the evil organization Hydra.
At the center of it all is good ol’ Nick Fury, twenty years removed from leading the Howling Commandos, now promoted from sergeant all the way up to colonel, with an eye patch over his left eye and an everpresent stogie in his mouth. Fury acts as the reader proxy in the story, leading us to discover just what in the world he is getting himself involved with – heck, even as he’s strapped into a bed with wires taped all over his nearly naked body, Fury is wondering “what in blazes is going on?”
What is going on, Col. Fury, is that you’ve been recruited to a super spy agency, the Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division by name – ignore that extra “E” please. SHIELD seems constantly under attack – as we discover on page three of this all-out action thriller, in the space of seven seconds, robot versions of Fury are attacked by evil doers – including one who has a gun hidden in a mailbox (I would hate to be the mailman working that route!) We soon witness Fury’s car attacked by a fiery missile before the wheels of the sports car transform into jets which transport our hero to an astounding floating fortress.
And those villains! Hydra seems to be an equal match for SHIELD, with astonishing technology, a vicious hatred for humanity, and – seriously – the greatest motto I can remember at a spy agency (and evil women, too – wonder if Nick Fury can turn Agent H to the good side!
Lee and Kirby have been growing a reputation for unstoppable, hurtling action but this tale takes that energy to a whole new level.
I do want to briefly mention that this story only takes up half the issue, and if “Agent of SHIELD” is an extrovert’s delight, “Doctor Strange” is just as much an introvert’s thrill. Drawn by Kirby’s opposite, Steve Ditko, this issue finds our sorcerer supreme on the hunt for the mysterious meaning of “eternity.” Just check out that gorgeous splash page below and contrast its brooding intensity with the dynamic thrills of the Nick Fury splash. Both are amazing work by men at the top of their talent but they each offer very different visions.
Fury’s world is one of men walking, talking and shooting. The men in that story look around – often to the reader – with a sense of purpose and energy. In Strange’s world, however, men and women look around furtively, live in almost unknowable strange worlds, are communicating secretly. If Nick Fury is like James Bond, Stephen Strange is like a hero from a Philip Dick or John Brunner novel, cursed by his greater knowledge and abilities to fight a lonely war.
Together, these two series provide about as dramatic a contrast in styles as any comic I can remember. What a welcome and unique issue. Strange Tales #135 is a good example of why I'm quickly becoming more and more inclined to Make Mine Marvel!
![[June 23, 1966] Interlude, with panthers](https://i0.wp.com/galacticjourney.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/660623bp1.jpg?resize=643%2C372&ssl=1)
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