New! Aliens/Vampirella #1

Aliens/Vampirella #1 (Dynamite/Dark Horse)

Corinna Becko (w) Javier Garcia-Miranda (a)

One of the great things about comic books is that given the opportunity writers and artists can give us a mix of genres that would not be seen in other media. Recently we've seen Star Trek crossover with Planet of the Apes, Doctor Who and now Green Lantern. Archie brought us err... Archie vs Predator! Not to be left out Dynamite and Dark Horse have teamed up to bring us a crossover between everyones favourite Aliens and vampires in the form of Vampirella.

The first of a six issue mini series came out this week and it didn't disappoint. The opening pages saw hooded figures running from an Alien, though some someone should have told them that the creatures blood is acid, as one vampire discovers a little too late as he bites into the aliens neck.

Not a pretty sight I can tell you.

Switch to the future and mankind has started to colonise Mars, except there's something there. Something that came before and it's not the long dead vampires nest that becomes there major worry. The alien complex predates human history.

So who do they call?

Vampirella.

Anyone who shouted "Ghostbusters" can go to the back of the class.

Vampi as usual dives straight into the investigation and of course into danger. No human these are not vampire eggs don't be silly.

The final page will shock just like the original movie but Vampirella is a vampire she's dead already isn't she?

Read on. 10/10.

Buster (1966)

The Buster was one of my firm favourites growing up in the sixties. I have no idea when I started reading it but read it in a fairly regular basis I did. I had hoped to obtain some earlier editions for this review but alas there was a gap in my local comic shops run between these and the Buster and the Big One which I do not recall at all.

Along with Buster himself in colour on the front cover these editions also contained one of my favourite adventure stories, Galaxus. The page illustrated below is not from either of these but is published as a reminder for all you oldies like me and a taster for the young-uns who might like to try Buster out!



Buster was always a mixture of humour and adventure which I think accounted for it's longevity. Tin Teacher would be followed by Toys of Doom, a cracking little adventure feature that is just so British. Marvel as "Model Superfix Rockey Planes" attack the the old fashioned bi-plane being flown by our heroes. Superfix of course being a reference to those Airfix model planes most of us grew up building. At least that's one hobby which seems to have survived the computer age!

The everlasting Charlie Peace, arch-Victorian criminal appears stealing the pies and James Pond continues his misadventures which the same week also involved him flying in a pie. Don't ask.

Along with The Pirates, Dinah Mite and the WWII  story Mighty Misfits this comic certainly brought back memories galore. There's even a British super-hero Thunderbolt: The Avenger about PC Mick Riley who gained his super-powers from "an amazing wristwatch".



Then to round of the features there's strips about Charlie Drake and Whacko with Professor Jimmy Edwards, a TV programme I just about remember but here's a little taster for those of you who may not have ever seen it.



The Pools? Does that even exist any more in this age of the lottery?

Warren Comics: Creepy #105 (1979)

Creepy #105 (Warren)

Various (w) & (a)

One of the more interesting publishers back in the day was Warren  who produced three famous black and white magazine style comics, Eerie, Creepy and Vampirella. They had other shorter lived titles but these three remain fan favourites and Vampirella after changing publishers and formats continues to this day.

This issue is fairly typical fare and contains a number of short stories with good art and scripts from a variety of writers and artists. Obviously as an anthology title (with the odd "themed" issue) not every story in ever issue is a gem but I have fond memories of the title going back to the sixties.

Starting off with a rather off-beat story, Shrivel set in a poverty stricken medieval kingdom, we meet a rather old dragon out for a meal. He's grown too fat to fly but can deal with the only Knight the king is able to send against him. Add one nagging queen and a child prince the story ends with  the deaths of the kingdoms rulers and the young, rather irritating lad joining our dragon on his further adventures.

Next up is Night Life reuniting a vampire and his long lost love. Doesn't end well. Then there's a tale of werewolves set in the Wild West, which whilst not bad is probably the weakest story in this issue.

More interesting and amusing was Always Leave 'em Laughing when all the worlds clowns are sent to live on the moon as mankind turns into a rather over serious po-faced bunch who outlaw humour. But just who will have the last laugh you may well ask.

Two more sci-fi shorts follow. The Sign which involves two sets of "three wise men" and the rather entertaining, Visit To A Primitive Planet with a moral of "be careful where you land...especially if it's our world!

The Summoning ends this selection of shorts and all I can say is if you are in the swamp just do not blow that dog whistle OK!

Creepy ran for 146 issues from 1964 to 1983.

 

The Beano becomes longest running weekly comic!

The Beano officially became the worlds longest running weekly comic according to the Guinness Book of Records with issue number 3,800!

Launched on 30th July 1937 The Beano has entertained and enthralled generation after generation outliving all it's rivals including it's now departed older sister The Dandy.

After all what's not to like. Dennis the Menace, The Bash Street Kids, Little Plum and The Three Bears.

So congrats to DC Thompson for their achievement and may many more children get enjoyment from the antics of our chums in the pages of The Beano!

Here's some covers from over the years.




  

More from: https://www.beano.com/

Atlas/Seaboard: Devilina (1976)

Atlas/Seaboard was a short lived company that appeared with a bang on the comics scene launching around 20  colour comics plus a couple of black and white magazines in 1975/76. They disappeared very quickly despite having a few good titles of which Devilina was one.

Th relaxing of the comics code had brought about a boom in horror comics, though this outdated censorship had never applied to magazines and Warren had been publishing Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella with some success for several years.

Devilina is an obvious attempt by Atlas to cash in on the Vampirella market and to be fair though this comic only lasted two issues I for one think it had some potential.



Each magazine is a mix of horror stories led by the Devilina feature itself.

The premise is simple. A war in heaven sees Satan and his followers transformed into demons after a war in heaven. Into the depths he is followed by a woman carrying a baby. His mother and bay sister it turns out.

Satan had a mother? Go figure.

Not wanting them in his realm he places the pair in the future (our seventies) where young Devilina grows up to be a beautiful woman unaware of her heritage until her 18th birthday.

She gets horns. Bit of a give away really.

It's then that the adventures begin as Satan taunts her and kills her first and only love.

The story continues in #2 but is never completed and the character (as far as I am aware) never sees the light of day agin.

As with Vampirella, Devilina introduces some of the stories in this mag which are all quite good fare.

Worth picking up if you can find copies. there's only two issues to collect which is a pity. Deserved a longer run.

Still Dynamite Entertainment has recently picked up the licence to Atlas/Seaboard so you never know......

Krazy (1976/78)

One of the more outrageous IPC comics was the short lived Krazy complete with manic covers and comic features that started a move away from the more traditional comic. Viz readers might recognise some of the format, but no smut lads this was a kids comic, "not for sale to adults" as was emblazoned on the cover.

They didn't mind if a grown-up paid for it though.

Neither would we, though maybe as a student at the time I was maybe a bit to old for such treats....

A sign of the times was the strip This is how Steve Ford became the 12p Buytonic boy. No prizes for guessing the inspiration for that one!

Laughter galore was to be found in Handy Andy, Pongo Strikes Again, Fit Fred & Sick Sid and a lad called Cheeky who went on to have a comic of his own.

There was also Kelly's Telly where characters came out his telly.. sure there was something similar in Wham! or Smash!, can't remember which!

 

One of the big selling points of this comic were it's covers, some of which like the two above are worth purchasing for these alone!

Like a lot of British comics this title eventually fell prey to falling sales and merged with stronger selling Whizzer and Chips in 1978.

That would not be the end of Crazy as both Summer Specials and Annuals continued to be published until 1985 outliving the parent comic by several years.

 

The Dandy Summer Special 1973

One of the joys of summers long gone was the Summer Special, in this case the very long running Dandy, which although has ceased publication still has it's specials and annuals. The main problem with DC Thompson's Summer editions was their size, huge pages which has meant they were far more easily damaged than those produced by other companies which were larger only in terms of the number of pages.

This 1973 edition of The Dandy Summer Special was a little damaged but intact and all pages were readable and a joy to read.

Korky the Cat, Corporal Clott, and of course Desperate Dan are the features most readers will remember. Add to that Smasher and public schoolboy Winker Watson plus my personal favourite, Brassneck the fun begins!

This being later than the editions I read as a kid (mostly back in the mid-sixties) there are a couple of stories I was not familiar with such as PC Big Ears and Whacko.

I'll have to find some copies of earlier editions for personal nostalgia, but in the mean time there is a lot to read including a couple of adventure strips Davie & Goliath (a boy and his dog) and the rather odd Jack Silver.

Grab a copy if you come across one!