John Carter: The End #1 (Dynamite Entertainment) Brian Wood & Alex Cox (w) Hayden Sherman (a)
John Carter Warlord of Mars and Dejah Thoris return for their "final" adventure in this mini-series from Dynamite. Set in the future of the fantasy world created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Mars is in it's final death throws as a brutal dictator rampages across the surface of the Red Planet bringing conflict and genocide to all the races of barsoom.
Only John Carter and his wife Dejah Thoris can even hope to bring an end to this holocaust. However they are nowhere to be found as the pair are in seclusion on one of the moons of Mars.
An interesting take on the Warlord of Mars concept with stylish art from Hayden Sherman that radically differs from the past series produced by Dynamite.
Richard Hatch who starred as Captain Apollo in the seventies TV series Battlestar Galactica has sadly passed away at the age of 71. Of the original crew he was the only one who appeared in both incarnations of the programme returning as Tom Zarek, a terrorist in the reimagined and updated Battlestar.
A great actor who also appeared in other programmes such as The Streets of San Francisco, Dynasty, The Love Boat and Baywatch.
As a youth Battlestar Galactica was essential science fiction viewing and I recall seeing the original movie at the cinema when it was shown at a now long-closed theatre in the Elephant & Castle. The TV show lasted for just one season, a total of 24 episodes before it was cancelled.
Richard Hatch did attempt to get the show relaunched, but sadly his attempt failed though the re-boot with modern special effects did make up for this especially given Hatch's role.
Battlestar Galactica spawned many comics that tried to continue the serial in graphic form. The first attempt being from Marvel Comics. Currently the licence is held by Dynamite who occasionally publish limited series of tales of both the original and rebooted programmes.
DC comics celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Detective Comics in May 1979 with this special issue which was then being published in the "dollar comic" format. Batman had first appeared in Detective #27 in May 1939. Created by Bob Kane, Batman along with Superman and Wonder Woman became one of the three most iconic superheroes of all time.
This issue had a special story in which Batman returns to Crime Alley where he was "born" and a struggle begins with the mysterious Mr Zeus...to be continued.
There are five other features in this issue including the Human Target, the weakest link in my opinion as I was never a fan of the character, but Batgirl and Robins features pick up the pace somewhat and there is a second Batman story at the end which involves ...kangaroos.
That makes five.
There is one more feature which in my mind is the pick of the crop. Steve Ditko takes on Jack Kirby's creation The Demon in a wonderful old style story Return to Castle Branek. Worth buying for this alone!
These are worth collecting but can be a bit more pricey than the average back issue from the period.
However with Detective Comics now being published fortnightly it won't be too long before the monumental issue 1,000!
Planet of the Apes/Green Lantern #1 (Boom! Studios) Robbie Thompson/Justin Jordan (w) Barnaby Bagenda (a)
Having been somewhat disappointed with the Tarzan/Planet of the Apes crossover from Dark Horse it was with some trepidation that I picked up this comic. There is after all a second series of Star Trek/Green Lantern still going from IDW. Could this be a bit of an overkill?
I have to say this series gets off to a great start. Sinestro sacrificing some of his Yellow Lanterns for as un-yet specified purpose and Cornelius finds an artifact whilst out in the wilderness looking for the remains of human civilisation.
Thing is this artifact a ring is not the product of human handiwork and as expected an alarm is rung on Oa. The Guardians order Hal Jordan and Kilowog to stand down. Nothing to worry about. Yeah right. It's a long time since us readers trusted the words of those conniving little blue men.
However Hal, Guy Gardner and the rest ignore their orders and go to investigate and bump into a rampaging Sinestro. Meanwhile when Corneilius puts on the ring something happens.
The second volume of the Eagle ran for 505 issues between 1982 and 1994 until it followed the majority of traditional British comics into cancelation. The series is of course famous for several strips including Dan Dare (the grandson of the original) and saw in later years the return of the original.
Of course there was also Doomlord and Bloodfang.
All these stories appear in this summer special published in 1985.
Doomlord heads off to outer space to stop two ex-NASA scientists burning the Earth and succeeds of course but the villains meet their fate in the vacuum. No arrests warranted here. Just left to their deaths. Justice "alien style".
Dan Dare goes to the planet Nirvanus which despite appearing to be a virtual paradise contains a deadly and murderous secret. The colonists are suddenly attacked by a colossus of alien origin. It's one of four criminals sentenced to 500 years suspended animation by the long dead civilisation that once flourished here.
Only the children can save them. How is this possible.....
Bloodfang has to fight for his leadership of the pack in a prehistoric story before man.
Other stories include One Eye Jack, the New York detective and the News Team.
The special also includes as usual factual and educational stories which were traditional in the original Eagle and continued in this second volume.
I was interested to read about the Battle of Matapan in which the British navy trashed the Italians. For those of you not familiar with the story here's a newsreel from the period.
Originally launched as Countdown in 1971, this comic changed it's name to Countdown and TV Action for a few issued until reversing the title with #59 as TV Action & Countdown with this edition in 1972.
According to the editorial:
When Countdown began over a year ago I'd hoped for a continuing stream of space orientated TV programmes. Unfortunately for all the film producers have cooled on the subject and no new series are on the horizon. Even the master of them all Gerry Anderson has deserted this scene in favour of more Earth-bound adventures. He is, at present engaged in making his all-action series The Protectors which will star, The Man from Uncle himself Robert Vaughn To keep up to date with these trends we at Countdown have followed suit. From now on ACTION is our motto - and TV Action is our target. With the inclusion of HAWAII FIVE-O and TIGHTROPE, I'm certain that no other paper can offer such an impressive list of TV ACTION.
There's a good selection of stories for all in this comic regardless of any changes. Dr Who being the main attraction with excellent artwork and storyline based on the incarnation of the good Doctor as played by Jon Pertwee. In this issue the Daleks have seemingly turned him into one of their own and are off in the TARDIS for conquest. But all not is as it seems....
Other features do include Tightrope which for the life of me I do not remember but Hawaii Five-O and The Persuaders were favourites that I would watch when not at school.
Other features included Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds, Stingray and UFO. The former two being reprints from TV21. The origin of the UFO strip is not known and would welcome comments from readers..
Vampirella #0 (Dynamite) Paul Cornell (w) Jimmy Broxton (w)
The search is on through the snow and the mists of time to find a tomb where for a thousand years where a woman sleeps/
Vampirella returns at last in a new series from the current licence holder Dynamite Entertainment with a vengeance. This special priced introductory issue introduces Vampy to the future and it looks like the world needs her.
Trouble is she is hungry.....very hungry after such a long sleep.
