Radiant Black Vol 1 (Image)

 

Every once in a while something grabs my attention and when I noticed the solicitation for this took a gamble on buyting the the trade and now having read it I have to say it was a risk well worth taking.

According to Robert Kirkman this is "the perfect superhero comic for anyone missing invincible" and now being drawn back into that world by the Amazon cartoon I can concur. This is quite a different story of course and our hero is no teenager. In fact he's a failed writer in his thirties heading home to his parents because he's broke.

We learn quite a lot about Nathan Burnett and his troubled world. Broke and with almost permanent writers block. Back with his parents he has to work on his father's insistence. His home. His rules. We all know the score. Then we get to meet his rather rumbustious friend Marshall who will play a surprising role in this unfolding saga.

Of course there wouldn't be a superhero story without Nathan actaully becoming one. And loe a thing like a black hole appears and Radiant Black is born. Not sure why the black since he has blue in his costume and there is well more to come even for the colour blind like me!

This volume reprints the first six issues and the cliff-hanger actually takes place in Chapter Five but there are more twists to come. This story shows promise and I'll be ordering the next volume when it's solicited. I think there'll be a lot of surprises on the way.

Rating: 5 Stars. (Recommended)

TV Tornado Annual 1970 (World Distributors)

 

I thought it time to return to the theme of comics and TV in this which will be the first of a weekly series focusing on the relationship between the two mediums.  Today we start with TV Tornado's Annual which has no cover date and issued for Christmas 1969 but would have been advertised the 1970 edition since it was the practice of publishers to use the following years date to ensure a longer shelf life.

I have to say this is the first time I have purchased one of TV Tornado's annuals as the comic itself was not amongst my favourites as a child in the sixties. I much preferred TV 21 and even the occasional Lady Penelope weeklies. 

I recall only only having the odd copy of this comic which was a strange mix of actual TV related strips and stories including The Man From Uncle, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and The Saint all of which I used to watch back then but for some reason included reprints of Magnus Robot Fighter 4000AD which was a frankly unremarkable comic published by Gold Key in the USA. I assume they were offered it alongside their Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea comics which were also reprinted by TV Tornado.

The quality of the strips vary and there are a number of text stories which don't appeal to me. I buy comics for comic strips. However getting this as an addition to my collection of annuals did bring back memories. I have seen episodes of The Saint on ITV 4 but would welcome repeats of of the adventures of Seaview and see Napoleon and Ilya continue their fight against T.H.R.U.S.H. Those were the days!

TV Tornado was published from from January 1967 to September 1968. It ran for a total of 88 issues and merged with Solo before itself being subsumed by TV 21.

2000AD Prog 2247 (Rebellion)

 

The latest issue of 2000AD popped through my letterbox this morning slightly delayed by the Bank Holiday weekend but well worth the wait especially as there are three new stories starting this week.

Judge Dredd stars in a new multi-part dark adventure The House On Bleaker Street with suitably creepy artwork from Nick Percival. A group of kidnappers lead Dredd and a new Judge into a long abandoned building with a reputation. Is it true that no one who goes in ever comes out?

There's a promising episode of Tharg's 3rillers entitled The Mask Of Laverna. Magic, ancient Olympian Gods and murder. What powers does this mask bring a Russian gangster and can he be stopped?

The Final new adventure hails from the world of Nu Earth in Jagir: The Path Of Kali in which a bar fight leads to an search for the one survivor of a Norther attack on a Souther base. Just what threat is rising once again?

Plus of course the latest parts of the excellent Skip Tracer and the so-so story of Dexter, formerly of Sinister and Dexter as the AI tracks down our anti-hero.

This is probably the nearest you'll get to a jumping on issue for a while. The "Regened" editions have replaced those for now though according to John Freeman on his excellent website Down The Tubes Rebellion are seemingly heading towards separating the brands. Could this mean a regular more "junior" version of our favourite prog? 

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Recommended)

Available from: 2000ad.com

Also in Newsagents, selected Newsagents and Comic Stores is the latest issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine:

Steve Ditko's Weird Comics #1 (Charlton Neo)

 

I was reading a post on one of the many comic related Facebook groups I belong to when I noticed this comic and it's being available on the US Amazon website so I decided to see if the UK operation had this available and guess what they did. It's one of those "point to order" publications that are making small runs available to readers.

This is not a new comic and refers to Steve Ditko as a "living legend" when sadly he passed away in 2018 however his work is timeless and in the case of these five short horror/mystery tales still pass the standard of story telling today.

Ditko is remembered for his work on early Spider-Man and Doctor Strange stories and helped create the Marvel Universe along with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. For me he was also the first comic book artist I could really identify as so many of his mystery stories for early Marvel were reprinted in glorious black & white by Alan Class's range of British reprint comics such as Tales of Suspense.

Of course Ditko worked for several companies and after he fell out with Stan Lee went back to working for Charlton Comics where he produced some fine stories as he never allowed his work to to suffer even when paid lower rates.

Hence why these stories are published (with permission from the author) under the Charlton Neo label. They were originally published in Monsters Attack #1 to #5. Frankly if you are a fan of Steve Ditko to fork out a fiver for this small publication is worth every penny.  There's science fiction mixed with sorcery, crime greed and sheer stupidity. 

Rating: 5 Stars (Recommended)

Available via Amazon

Battling Britons (Vol 2) Number One

 

Back in April a team of British War Comic enthusiasts organised by Justin Marriott produced an oversized volume covering the various picture library books and weekly comics that contained stories of Brits at war. This contained a couple of hundred individual reviews of individual comics amongst other features . 

Now Justin has launched a fanzine covering the same subject with features, interviews and reviews of the war comics genre. This is a welcome addition to the on-going revival of originally produced comics and magazines by British creators and fans. 

This magazine covers classic out of print picture libraries and looks at the latest releases from the still published Commando series which passed the 5,000 issue mark a few years back and recently had it's 60th anniversary. This shows that there is still a demand for these types of stories with a mixture of new material and reprints.

This edition also has an article which looks at the coverage of the Vietnam war in American comics including titles such as Daredevil as well as Sgt Fury. Interestingly there's also an article from American writer and fan James Reasoner about his appreciation of the British output.

Other articles in include a look at the weird and wonderful such as the time travelling Gladiators from The Lion & Eagle comic which was one of my favourites and needs collecting one of these days. Johnny Red also gets some well deserved coverage but the most entertaining feature just has to be Tusk Force in which looks at the role of elephants in British war comics. Well done that man!

Rating 5 Stars (Recommended)

Both this and the Volume One book are available from Amazon.

The Milford Green Saga (Oversized Hardback Edition) (Signal Comics)

 

This was a comic I actually came across by accident when I saw it advertised on-line about a while back. I ordered the first issue but they sent me the third so although I had a quick flick I didn't read. For one reason or another I forgot to query my order so when I saw this oversized collected edition being promoted on Kickstarter I jumped at the chance as I was already intrigued and the edition I had showed promise so ordered a copy.

The Milford Green Saga is a wonderfully illustrated all-ages science fiction story set in Victorian times. It begins  the tale of a local bully and a young lad who watches his love from afar getting beaten.  Alfie is a good lad and has a brain if no brawn. But everything changes with the arrival of a spaceship in "England's prettiest village".

This isn't a rehash of War Of The Worlds far from it. Other than aliens being in rural England the similarity ends. These aliens are fighting each other over some precious object. The adventure begins.

Our hero retreats to a castle where with the father of Mary his girlfriend to be Alfie makes a stand....

Not wanting to publish too many spoilers all I can say is this story is a treat as the two Victorian youngsters head into outer space and return with dire news for her majesty. If you want to see Queen Victoria in space then this is the book for you.

This book is well worth every penny of entry to read the adventure penned by Samuel George London with matching art from Mikael Hankonen. 

Rating: 5 Stars Plus (A Must buy for every comic fan)

Website: signalcomics.com

2000AD Regened Prog 2246

 

The latest issue 2000AD hit the doormat yesterday and turned out to be the quarterly "all-ages" edition aimed at younger readers (previous issues reprinted in two trade collections) which apparently sell very well which is good news for the hobby as well as the publisher. Today's readers like me are getting on in our years and new blood is required if comics are to survive into the future which seems so heavily dominated by electronic entertainment not that any game has interested me since Space Invaders...

Actually despite the fact the content is "toned down" it's still an excellent read as we start off by meeting a young Judge Cadet Dredd who has to go undercover in order to save the lives of some homeless juves hiding out in a bloc due to  be abolished. The Block With No Name shows that despite everything deep inside Joe has a nice side.

Then there's The Mayflies set in Rogue Troopers universe and although we're talking kids, these youths are hard and they are going to survive no matter what it takes. Whose side will they take in this seemingly never ending war? Find out in The Way Forward.

Next up is the charming tale of 'Splorers which includes a greedy pet monster called Howard (no relation honest!) which sees what should be a harmless biology lesson go terribly wrong....

There's a Future Shocks tale Trash Culture. These can be hit or miss. This one's a miss for me sorry folks.

And finally we end with Chopper as hes starts out surfing. He's a good bloke really as we see in Chopper Don't Surf!

Rating 4.5 Stars. (Recommended)

Available from Wednesday at good newsagents or 2000ad.com

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On and for more mature readers is the latest issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine in which Devlin Waugh is about to go to hell.....