Misty (Trade Paperback/Rebellion)

The first volume of what will hopefully become a series collecting the various stories from Misty is out now. Rebellion has purchased the rights to this comic (and others) from 1970 onwards from Ergmont/Fleetway and will hopefully give us a full publishing programme of British comics from the seventies and eighties. Regretfully there are copyright problems with earlier material which is a pity for those like me who grew up in the sixties but there can be no complaint about this revival of the British comic.

Girls comics were something most lads from my generation wouldn't have been seen dead reading these "sissy" comics or even admitting to looking at them. Our loss I'd say having picked up a few copies of Misty in the not too distant past. It makes a refreshing change to see girls at the centre of stories and boy can their enemies be bitches.



Misty is in essence a horror comic for girls.

With that in mind the first of two complete stories in this volume is a tale very much in the vein of Carrie one of the classic horror movies of all time. Moonchild tells the tale of young Rosemary Black kept isolated by her mother in a house with no modern technology and has the bejesus knocked out of her to stop the "evil inside".

Rosemary has enemies at school to, so her lots not a happy one. And just what is her power? A witches curse? Or perhaps something like telekinesis......

 

The other story is more difficult to precis an introduction without giving the game away as it is based on a much older horror story. The Four Faces of Eve starts with a young girl waking up in hospital with no memories of her previous life, And why is she kept away from other patients, Why do her "parents" never kiss or hug her?

And why does a circus fortune teller say she is already dead?

A volume worth picking up for both older readers and young alike. My only criticism is a purely format related issue. The font is a bit small for my ageing eyes given the pages have been reduced to a smaller size. Time for another visit to the opticians maybe? Either way it didn't stop me enjoying this volume and I recommend it to you.

Epic #6 (Marvel Magazine/1981)

Marvel continued it's experiments with adult orientated magazines by launching Epic in 1981. This time their target audience were those who read Heavy Metal magazine, a long running colour fantasy comic that still gets published today. In fact Grant Morrison is currently guest editor so I've ordered the next available issue from Previews to see what he makes of this title.




Epic was certainly produced to high standards though the highlight and almost sole reason I purchased this magazine was for Jim Starlin's Metamorphosis Odyssey a fantastic tale that lead to the destruction of our galaxy and introduced Dreadstar to comicdom.

As for the rest it was always a mixed bag as is the way of of anthology titles but Marcel certainly did make an effort though I gave up on it at the time long before the magazine folded.

Epic featured quite a mix of stuff and #6 is very specifically a "science fiction" special which is why I chose to pick this up for old time sake. This particular issue contains an adaption of Harlan Ellison's The Hutch which is a mixture of prose and art.




Metamorphosis Odyssey has been reprinted several times, the last being from Dynamite though I have the four black & white volumes produced by SLG, the latter three continuing the adventures of Dreadstar after the genocide. Worth picking up in any format!

 

Savage Sword of Conan Annual #1 (Marvel Magazine/1975)

The most successful of Marvel Comics black & white magazine line was The Savage Sword of Conan which lasted 235 issues between 1974 and 1995. So it comes as no surprise that Marvel also tried out an "Annual" in 1975. However this lasted just the one issue.

Unlike it's regular counterpart this Annual was all reprints from the colour comics and though they were good stories and looked the part in the black & white format they perhaps did not appeal to the slightly older readership and/or the audience had the original comics already.

Certainly having a number of the Dark Horse collected volumes I had previously read the two Conan stories but Kull was new to me. These stories were reprinted from Kull the Conqueror and Monsters on the Prowl.  

Of particular interest (to me anyway) was Kull's first encounter with Thulsa Doom who of course was to reappear as an opponent of not just Conan but Red Sonja!

 

Marvel did however go on to reprint Conan's more "savage" adventures in Conan Saga which ran for 92 issues between 1987 and 1995.

Riverdale : Archie but not as you know it trailer!

It started as this:



Became this:



Had a zombie spin off:



Now on TV it all changes......

Jerry Lewis #100 (DC/1967)

One of DC's long running comics was based on the adventures of Jerry Lewis. Originally featuring his long time partner on TV, Dean Martin from 1952 for 40 issues until 1957 when the title became simply The Adventures Jerry Lewis after their partnership broke up. The comic then ran for a further 84 editions until 1972 ending with #124,

Not a comic I ever purchased as a kid in the UK, though I remember the adverts in the other DC titles but when I came across #100 it was time to have a copy, just the one in my collection. A zany plot with Jerry making a mess of everything he touches there's not much else to say. Just a bit of fun from simpler times.

I was a fan of his films who I saw as a sort of "American Norman Wisdom".

Here's some of the covers from the series.

 



 

Marvel Preview #11 (Marvel Magazine/1977)

With the recent Guardians of the Galaxy film a lot of new readers/fans may not be aware of Star-Lords original incarnation as imagined by Chris Claremont nd John Byrne. Peter Quill's early appearances in Marvel Preview have started attracting premium prices, though some lower grades are available and so I picked up Sta-Lords second outing.

Having read a few early issues of Marvel UK's Star Wars Weekly, the opening pages were familiar as this strip was reprinted in it's pages. Great Story and art from one of the top creative teams of the seventies and eighties.

In this story we see Star-Lord attack a slavers ship which has just devastated a peaceful world of refugees who had escaped the clutches of the Galactic Empire. In freeing the slaves, Peter Quill adopts two companions for the rest of this adventure. Kip and the pickpocket Sandy (who also end up falling in love) join him to seek vengeance on the man responsible for their predicament.

Trouble is Star-Lord ends up with two sets of enemies instead of one.

The origin of Star-Lord is completed (with back story for anyone who missed the first issue) and we discover who the father of Peter Quill actually is. It's.. no spoiler I'm afraid but makes for a good story since we know he's not entirely human.

Star-Lord had a total of five outings in Marvel Preview and got a colour tryout too. Neither were commercial successes more's the pity. I rather liked the character and in particular in this format.

 

 

Creepy Worlds #156 (Alan Class/undated)

One of the greats of British comic publishing were the Alan Class range of anthology titles featuring mostly horror, mystery and science fiction tales reprinted from American comics. Marvel, Charlton, Archie, ACG and King Features all had their wares published in the pages of these comics.

Superheroes also made their appearance such as the Fantastic Four, Ant Man, The Fly, Mighty Crusaders, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and erm...Herbie.

All undated these comics could be collected randomly, simply because their contents were likewise..random, so you never knew what classics would appear int their pages.

Creepy Worlds was one of the core half dozen titles that lasted 249 issues until 1989 when Alan Class retired. Featuring classic monster stories by Jack "King" Kirby such as the cover feature "Taboo Returns" and tales of sorcery from Steve Ditko (who's art is even better in black & white) plus sci-fi from Don Heck all of whom went on to found the "Marvel Age of comics".

Every issue a joy to read.