The latest issue of the British comics fanzine is now variable from Amazon and is a little different from the previous issues in that it is just 60 pages rather than the usual 100 and is cheaper as a result. The quality however is unaffected.
As publisher Glenn B Fleming explains: "unfortunately, we live in interesting times and real life seems to have caught up with people" but at least as one reader points out there is no "filler" and you get intelligent and considered articles as normal.
This particular issue kicks off with a tribute to Ron Embleton a top notch British artist who fans of a certain age will recall from his work for TV 21 and will have see his paintings in the credits of Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet.
One niche article is for fans of wrestling and comics, not my thing though The Thing appears!
Much of the comic output of the nineties remains a mystery to me and one such gap in my knowledge is Stan Lee's Nightcat. Can't say it looks like it would have appealed to me and certainly did't catch on but the Stan's ideas were not always shall we say "perfect". Interesting though.
Stephen Hooker brings us back to the mainstream with a "bump"as he takes a look at the genre of British war comics which when I was growing up were central reads. The really good stories appeared in those little pocket book libraries that were designed to fit into your blazer!
Of course The Valiant and The Victor were amongst the weeklies which devoted pages to the genre but it wasn't until the advent of Battle that we had a really "gritty" war comic appearing every week!
The return of the "golden age" heroes and how they were retro-fitted into the "Silver Age" DC Universe is tackled by Tony Ingram in a thoughtful piece that helps explain how the multiverse was born. Honestly it was much simpler to understand back then than today....
There's also a excellent potted history of the early X-Men (up to #66) that is well worth a read as it was at first a bit of a backwater for Marvel unlike today when along with Spidey is the backbone of their sales. Now we need an introduction to the next stage please. I lost track of the X-Men years ago and have only recently returned via the new Panini series.
There's also a review of the long running Daleks series from TV 21 that got reprinted by Panini last year while this months mag looks at early attempts by DC to be socially aware. Actually remembering that questionnaire from my childhood makes me cringe now.....
Rating: 5 Stars.
This and all previous issues are available from Amazon.
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