Category Archives: Comic Reviews

Comic Reviews, Havoc

HAVOC #3: PSYCHOTiC GOOD BUDDiES

5 Comments

The third issue of Havoc begins not only with a RoboCop cover, the ‘Half Man, Half Machine, All Cop’ detective is also the star of the free gift poster. It would be a few years before I’d become a big fan of the character through the series, but I had enjoyed the film and was curious about him at this stage, so I remember this cover eliciting an excited response from 13-year-old me. As a 44-year-old adult now though, I’m not too sure about boasting how there are “predators” inside! It was a different time.

What a glorious poster! Lee Sullivan’s painted image looked incredible on my wall and I may just have to put this one up in the home office too. We’ve definitely been spoiled with Havoc’s free gifts so it’s disappointing we wouldn’t get any more for the rest of the characters, or the “psychotic good buddies” as they’re described on the contents page. Inside the 36-page comic the strips have been swapped about a bit with the beginning of a new Conan the Barbarian tale up first. Whether the choice of order was deliberate or just to shake things up, I think having the first chapter of a new story as our opener was a good move.

Last week I spoke about how I wasn’t enamoured with the character of Conan after it felt like he was preying upon the mysterious woman he met in some snow-covered mountains. From some comments on social media about the review I see I’m not alone in this thinking. It was based on one of the original Robert E. Howard tales but his next adventure, Cauldron of the Doomed! is a Marvel original, with a plot by the strip’s artist John Buscema (The Avengers, The Punisher, Kull the Conqueror) however the dialogue has been written by Michael Fleischer (The Spectre, Jonah Hex, Rogue Trooper), with lettering by Janice Chiang (Batman, DC Super Hero Girls, previously featured on the blog in Visionaries).

In these first seven pages Conan comes across as much more heroic and chivalrous (well, for Conan) than the brute last time, which is good because I really didn’t want to read more of what we had been previously. Of course we start things off with some brutal violence, it is still Conan after all. Taking part in a paid-for fight in a town he’s passing through in order to afford a horse for his further travels, he eventually defeats the local champion much to the delight/horror of those placing bets. During this display he also catches the eye of a woman watching from the stands.

Marielle De Bruvahr fakes an injury to grab his attention, a trick one of the onlookers is all too familiar with in a funny panel above. Conan isn’t falling for it but he plays along and on this one page alone he comes across as a completely different person than the one in the first two issues. He takes her home, making sure she’s safe. She shows him a massive mansion full of statues of strong men she admires, including her father. The strip ends when it’s revealed she is the sculptor.

While she is clearly intelligent and talented, she also barks orders at her slaves and clearly manipulated Conan into coming home with her. What she wants from him isn’t known yet, nor whether she’s friend or foe, but it’s clear she’s isn’t another damsel in distress. I’m intrigued and I’m rather enjoying this strip, it’s a world of difference compared to what came before. A good start then to #3 and it continues with Howard Mackie‘s reinvented Ghost Rider, pencilled by Javier Saltares, inked by Mark Texeira, coloured by Gregory Wright and lettered by Michael Heisler.

“The innocent blood spilled here tonight must be avenged! It is my solemn duty.”

Ghost Rider

Remember, this was my introduction to the character and actually I’ve never read any more after the cancellation of Havoc, so all these years later this is my re-introduction. With the build up complete and that wonderful reveal on the final page last week we can jump straight into the action with Danny Ketch now fully transformed. A flaming skull is something you’d think was the embodiment of evil, so of course this is the first impression he leaves on those around him, but in reality he’s pretty much the embodiment of that “psychotic good buddie” line.

I love this juxtaposition, the frightening creature instilling fear into the bad guys. Yes, that idea isn’t new, but this isn’t Batman with his strict rules, this is something… else. My first impression is this Spirit of Vengeance needs to be battled by Danny; will he be able to control its murderous ways, what is he able to remember afterwards, is he fully aware while in this form but can’t control it, or maybe he doesn’t want to control it while transformed? Please, no answers, I’m discovering this fun character anew.

“The innocent blood spilled here tonight must be avenged! It is my solemn duty.” I love that quote, especially coming from a character that looks like this as he holds a police officer up in the air. Even with his instruction to the police that his sister Barb (again incorrectly described as his girlfriend in the opening dialogue box) needs medical attention and the fact he’s saved one of the hoodlum kids, the police still assume he was responsible for Barb’s condition and the deaths of those men strewn about the place.

Fired upon, the Ghost Rider doesn’t injure any of the cops, instead throwing the one he held aloft at his colleagues in order to escape and flipping one of their cars over onto the other to stop them pursuing, as he rides off on that really cool bike. No wonder I loved this strip so much as a young teen. This is definitely the one I’m most looking forward to in the next issue. The character already has my full attention. Although, I do remember almost every issue my favourite would change and that’s probably likely to happen again if these first three reviews are anything to go by.

The Eye Level news page brings us all the latest from the world of fantasy films this time. It begins with news of a film I love, Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, but from what the column says here it could have been very different indeed. (I’m relieved the article’s writer crossing their fingers didn’t make any difference.) Although, how reliable is that bit of news when no less than three sequels announced here never made it to the screen?

Of course, at the time of The Rocketeer’s release a sequel looked like a sure thing but a disappointing box office return soon put that idea to bed. At least for a few decades anyway, with news just last year of a long-awaited sequel, the original film having gathered quite the cult following in the years since (and a cartoon series a couple of years back). As a fan of the movie, let’s hope this Eye Level isn’t as wrong as it reads and perhaps was just 30 years ahead of its time.

The lead strip in the first two issues, and cover star for the premiere edition, Dwayne McDuffie and Gregory Wright’s Deathlok is tucked away in the middle of the comic with the story taking a big step forward in its set up. Michael Collins, the loveable family man from #2, heads off to work at Cybertek where he develops artificial intelligence software in robotic limbs for amputees, believing he’s helping make the world a better place. Sudden demands from on high and being locked out of classified systems he previously had access to worry him. So he decides to hack in and see what’s really going on.

He discovers the Deathlok programme and sees footage of the death of Colonel John Kelly’s brain (from #1). Furious that one of his colleagues knew about this (he’s told, “Everybody who could handle it knew”) and believing there’s a conspiracy within the company he confronts Ryker, who he sees as a friend and confidant. First though, we get a tender scene of him at home where he asks his wife what she’d think if he quit his job on moral grounds. She backs him and there’s even a funny moment involving the dishes amongst the drama.

Having been able to share his frustrations (although not telling Trace what he found out in order to protect her and Nick) he plucks up the courage and goes to see Ryker, not knowing he’s actually the man behind Deathlok. Drawn by Wright and Jackson Guise with lettering by Richard Starkings, this double-page spread below ends the story for now and it’s all building momentum brilliantly. I like these small, weekly chunks. We’re all set now for the next phase in the story, seeing Deathlok again but with a murdered, peace-loving family man within it.

You just know Michael is going to end up going toe-to-toe with that huge tank, don’t you? That’s a Chekhov’s gun if ever there was one. Moving on to writer/artist Walt Simonson’s Star Slammers next and that shuttle craft last issue was more important than I thought. Somehow Lackland had made it far enough away in a few seconds to jump into it, take off and attack the Slammers. It all comes to an end just as quickly when the one dressed in red, Sphere (we’re finally getting their names) uses a catapult to fling a rock through the cockpit, causing her to crash.

According to the terms of their contract, the Slammers are awarded any spoils of war and they take this to the extreme, commandeering the Skriks’ ship and any and all weaponry the citadel had used against them. As you can see below it’s quite the selection. It’s here they take off and we realise for the first time, three issues in, that this planet and the skirmish on it were merely an introduction to the main characters and not part of the overall plot. Instead, said plot only begins now.

Alongside leader Sphere are female Slammer Jalaia and young boy Slammer Ethon. In the booklet that came with #1 the Slammers’ page was made up like a Wanted poster by the government of the planet Orion. It said they were associates of the traitorous Galarius of Orion, who it was believed moulded them into the army they had become. In this issue our three protagonists are taking a break while their ship travels through hyperspace and we’re finally able to get a bit of an insight into each of them and the background to the whole tale.

All of the weaponry they’re collecting, the spoils of all the jobs they’re hired to do, aren’t being used in a war just yet. Instead, it’s been foretold that Orion is going to invade their planet, although when this is meant to happen hasn’t been determined. Instead, they’re putting their faith in the predictions of ‘The Grandfather’, a former resident of Orion. This must be Galarius.

Most interesting is the fact the Star Slammers have a sort of hive mind. They call it ‘bridging’. Ethon is a newbie and has bridged with Jalaia but not with Sphere yet, however he has been the Slammer to bridge with The Grandfather the most and is being lined up to be the deepest mind-bridger of them all. What this actually means and how it will help them in the coming war is anyone’s guess right now.

So far this strip still feels ill-suited to the anthology format. All of the others seem to suit Havoc, giving us enough every week to satisfy. They were written as monthly comics with roughly 22 pages of strip so each tale is only being split into four (as far as I can tell so far), however Star Slammers was written as a large one-off, graphic novel-size strip so its pacing is going to be vastly different. That could be why younger me didn’t take to it at the start because nothing seemed to happen. Hopefully as we get further along into the meat of the story that’ll change. The art is lovely though, coloured by Louise Simonson and Deborah Pedler, with distinctive lettering by John Workman.

It would appear Nixco’s potential RoboCop replacement isn’t exactly the most accurate of crime stoppers if these panels from the next part of Kombat Zone are anything to go by. There were meant to be a couple of twists in this chunk of the story, namely how Kombat promotor Dek King (who Murphy is looking for) is involved in the Nixco robot and that he has x-ray film of RoboCop’s inner circuitry to help them. Unfortunately both of these story elements are given away in the dialogue box at the top of the first page, which is only meant to catch us up on what happened last time.

This is rather careless and ruins the main plot points before we have a chance to read them. It’s a real shame because Alan Grant’s story so far, while it does have much in common with RoboCop 2, is so far a lot more enjoyable. I also really like the scene when Nixco’s Krayton and Mr. Darkstone look over the film of Alex’s circuitry to see where they’ve gone wrong. I’m not going to pretend I understand how these scans could solve their programming errors, but I don’t think we’re meant to dwell on it that much. Lee Sullivan’s pencils, Kim DeMulder’s inks, Steve White’s colours and Richard Starkings’ letters set the scene in such a good way I just went along with it.

After another Media Break in which we find out Spain has declared war on four North African countries and the Detroit Zoo is miniaturising its animals to alleviate their cramped conditions, Murphy shows up at another Kombat game in search of Kyng, coming across some drug dealers outside. It’s here I find the strip is kind of a cross between the over-the-top violence of the original movie and the later TV show I was such a fan of.

One of the dealers opens fire on Robo, trying to take him out (this is set in the earliest days of his time on the beat and they’re still surprised to see a robot cop) and returns fire and kills him. However, the others are captured alive, two of them ingeniously knocked out in a way that really does remind me of the more fun ways he’d subdue criminals in the series rather than just opening fire indiscriminately like he does in the movies. Save for the Havoc error with the dialogue box this is great fun!

That’s us at the end of another issue, already a third of the way through a run which should’ve been so much longer. The Next Issue page doesn’t really give too many hints about what’s to come, although we can deduce that RoboCop will somehow end up in the fighting ring and Michael’s brain will be causing some grief for the Deathlok computer. I’m interested in seeing how the Star Slammers story adds to their grand background tale and Conan has redeemed himself somewhat, but it’s still the other three strips I’m gagging to read more of.

I’m glad I only have to wait seven days! While there’ll be no more wonderful posters to gawk at hopefully there’ll be plenty to enjoy inside. The review of the fourth edition of Havoc from Marvel UK will be here from Wednesday 27th July 2022.

iSSUE TWO < > iSSUE FOUR

HAVOC MENU

Comic Reviews, Havoc

HAVOC #2: FLAMiN’ HELL!

Leave a comment

With five different strips to this anthology and each one an imported American story split into multiple parts across weekly issues variety was always going to be a key factor of Havoc. What I didn’t expect was how different each issue could feel as a whole. Last issue’s action packed Deathlok gives way to proper character introductions, Star Slammers begins to show a glimmer of political intrigue, Ghost Rider has the reveal we’ve been waiting for, Conan the Barbarian comes to a sudden end already and RoboCop brings in the satire and characterisation that always set him apart from other action fare.

In the middle of all this is a large, glossy Deathlok poster, the issue’s free gift. Drawn by Joe Jusko in 1989 it must’ve been a piece of art to promote the comic in 1990 when Marvel in the US brought the character back. I definitely remember having this on my wall at the time and I particularly like the way we see the complete human and cyborg sides of him next to the completed transfer and the birth of a character I loved that summer. In the comic itself there’s also an article about the strip with insights from the creative team.

First up though is the Deathlok story written by Dwayne McDuffie and Gregory Wright which begins by adding the logo, story title, credits badge and a quick recap to the original splash page opener by Wright and Jackson Guise, with the original lettering in the rest of this chapter by Richard Starkings. Cybertek Systems Inc. know fine rightly what happened to cause the disaster last issue. They also know without a human brain it’s “nothing but a multi-billion dollar mannequin” and then the reader is instantly taken to the home of Michael Collins, a software programmer working on artificial limbs.

In the scene in his home his young son is playing a computer game and upgrading his character with the biggest gun possible without giving thought to armour, speed, agility etc. Trying to teach his son that a real hero isn’t all about weaponry and violence, it falls on deaf ears as the boy is having too much fun. Even if I didn’t remember it, it’s clear the strip is setting Michael up as the new Deathlok, so his abhorrence towards violence is an interesting take. Like having Danny in Ghost Rider being a bit of a coward last issue.

As a teenager I always loved the quieter moments amongst all the action in my comics. Thing is, not all of the comics I tried out could carry it off. Transformers was surprisingly good at it although it rarely happened, it was part of the fun in G.I. Joe too and here the domestic scenes made the story (and the comic) feel more mature to thirteen-year-old me, like I was watching a really good movie set up all the pieces correctly with the right pacing and character development. I loved this juxtaposition. It wasn’t trying to entice me with endless action, I was expected to return to see it all develop. I wasn’t being talked down to.

The story ends this issue with Ryker of Cybertek ordering his team to neutralise the software fault by the next day for another brain transplant, even though they haven’t got a volunteer lined up. It’s clear he doesn’t intend to ask. On the next page a Deathlok article is an interesting read about what drew co-creator Dwayne McDuffie to the job and what the character meant to him. The way he describes the relationship between the computer and Michael reminds me of another character by the same name and his computerised partner, namely Michael Knight and K.I.T.T.; particularly in Knight Rider‘s first season when the two main characters butted heads a lot as they got to know each other, so I’m excited to see this play out in this strip.

The Star Slammers get a little more than four pages this time, although having read this part I can see that was the best place to end it a week ago. Having saved the citadel they make their way inside and are greeted by very welcoming, grateful hosts. The Slammers have no wish to celebrate, they know the Skriks will be back soon so they simply demand their payment and a place to rest. While they sleep an official called Lackland comes to warn them the others mean to kill their saviours instead of paying up.

But on the very next page it appears Lackland is working for the enemy, the Skriks. As they wait to see if the mercenaries will change sides, their ship on which the Skriks reside is locked up tight and flown off to the citadel, where it lands and is surrounded by tanks before the Slammers announce it was them. They had simply snuck up to the ship and locked the Skriks inside their own home. The episode ends with Lackland making a run for it as another ship comes into view above, so it’s unclear where this is headed.

To be honest, not much is happening yet. It’s still setting up its plot, characters, background and the politics involved. There’s the potential of political intrigue here which I hope I’m right about, because so far it’s not great; the Slammers’ capture of the Skriks all happens off-page and I’m not feeling connected to anyone yet. It’s not necessarily the fault of writer and artist Walt Simonson (colours by Louise Simonson and Deborah Pedler, letters by John Workman) because this was written to be read as a whole, not as a serial.

While other strips seem to be benefitting from the weekly short doses, engrossing me in each chunk of story and building anticipation, it may just be these early pages of Star Slammers that aren’t so suited to the format. Maybe once it gets going it’ll fit in more and I do remember enjoying it later, so I’ll wait to see how my attitude changes in the weeks ahead. But for now it’s time to move on to the character whose introduction has really made an impact on me, Howard Mackie‘s Ghost Rider.

“I am Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance!”

Danny Ketch/Ghost Rider

The story’s recap incorrectly labels Barb as Danny Ketch’s girlfriend when she was clearly described as his sister last issue, then we kick off with the kids that scared Danny stealing the briefcase Deathwatch’s and Kingpin’s cronies fought over. Deathwatch leaves but not before ordering his men to pursue and kill all witnesses. The kids run but Danny is struggling with his unconscious sister and must find somewhere to hide. In a nearby scrapyard he carries Barb inside a pile of scrap cars where something glows in the dark at his presence.

He spots a motorcycle and, while it just looks like a regular bike, it’s brand new. What’s it doing here amongst all this junk? He leans Barb up against it to keep her sitting upright but she’s bleeding everywhere. Meanwhile, the men outside capture the girl who stole the briefcase but realise the only way to ensure there are no witnesses is to level the whole place with a thermite grenade. It’s at this point Danny’s life changes forever.

His hands covered in blood, and in complete panic, he doesn’t know what to do. It’s at this point the original light he saw glows again. It’s coming from the petrol cap on the bike, which he touches with his blood soaked hand as he thinks about how he’d do anything to save his sister.

I remember seeing that panel and getting excited when I first read this. I was always someone who’d never flick through his comics before settling down to read them. (At least, not since I’d done that with an issue of Transformers and had a shock ending of a story ruined for me before I’d read it.) So I always read from front to back without so much as looking to see what features are inside.

I was so glad I kept to this because as the ground underneath their feet begins to rumbled, Deathwatch’s men were about to get the shock of their lives, and young me got such a thrill when I turned the page to this final image! Ghost Rider’s art team are penciller Javier Saltares, inker Mark Texeira, colourist Gregory Wright and letterer Michael Heisler.

Now that’s a cliffhanger. In theory, not seeing the main character of the strip until the final page of the second chapter shouldn’t work. As mentioned above, the slower pacing of splitting up the stories isn’t working for the Star Slammers, but here it most definitely is. The bike has completely changed shape and looks awesome flying through the air as it jumps over the henchmen, the ghostly, flaming skeleton carrying Barb off to safety.

If you’re familiar with the character you may have to excuse me because apart from this back in 1991 I haven’t read any of the comics. I would’ve been hooked to Ghost Rider had Havoc carried on, I remember that much and I feel the same now only two issues into this read through. So yes, I’m a newbie, I’ll be describing things you may have become quite used to a long time ago, but I’m an excited newbie. You may see me grow into quite the fan of Danny’s as the summer continues.

After an Eye Level about a set visit to the filming of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is the RoboCop video competition promoted on the cover, but it wasn’t the video I was expecting.

I always found it strange to have cartoons and toys based on adult movies (the same goes for Aliens). I don’t mean collectibles either, I mean an animated series and toys actually aimed at children when the original movie was certificated ’18’. After the TV show later in the 90s I eased up on that somewhat (I spoke last time about why that’s my preferred RoboCop) but at the time of Havoc it was all rather weird. Anyway, the cartoon and associated merchandise weren’t a success and only 12 episodes were made, broadcast in the States in 1988. Clearly it took a while for it to make its way over here.

Today Conan reads very differently in a more enlightened world

Conan the Barbarian is up next and I was very surprised to see it’s the conclusion to The Frost Giant’s Daughter already. Not being familiar with the character I assumed his stories would be the same length as the rest, but this short story ends here. There’s plenty of fighting as he takes down the two huge men he came up against last time, an uncomfortable moment when he tries to force himself onto the woman with a kiss to change her allegiance and it all ends with asking more questions than it answers.

Chased down by Conan in such a forceful way I found myself on the side of the woman (who is meant to be evil). She finally frees herself from his grasp and calls out to Ymir, the god who is apparently her father. I know the stories are from a different time but that doesn’t make it any more enjoyable. Adapted from Robert E. Howard’s original story by Roy Thomas, with art by Barry Windsor-Smith and lettering by Artie Simek, it looks the part of a classic comic strip but it doesn’t make for easy reading. Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t think anything of it I’m sorry to say. Today it reads very differently in a more enlightened world.

I think Conan rather deserved the treatment dished out there! He awakens on the final page surrounded by the men he was previously fighting alongside. No one finds any tracks or evidence of why Conan had just walked off on his own and it’s only when someone called Gorm speaks out that Conan realises what he’s holding. Was it a dream? A myth? Or real? It’s kind of left that it did happen on some level, but other than that it’s up in the air.

More amenable to my tastes is the last strip and it’s back to RoboCop. The recap gives away a key plot point, explaining the video used to film Murphy’s fight with the gang last issue was an x-ray device, something the strip itself hasn’t told us yet. Proper credits are given this time though and with names like Alan Grant, Lee Sullivan, Kim DeMulder, Steve White and Richard Starkings the big guns (no pun intended) are pulled out to finish off the issue.

Some detective work leads Murphy to a legal Kombat game where men in insulated suits try to electrocute each other with tasers. Behind the scenes it’s all very reminiscent of modern day wrestling with over-the-top characters and hints that the match results may be fixed when a scan shows Murphy the suits have been tampered with. The previous victim was called Powky and Robo finds out he worked for the Kombat promoter, Dek Kyng, an obvious reference to Don King. Meanwhile OCP are nervous that a rival company called Nixco are developing a rival to RoboCop.

Media Break, the news programme from the first movie and TV series makes a return and while the hilarious advertisements for the consumerist future are missing, they’re still a neat way of getting plot and context into the story. There’s also a good deal of humour here too, such as how Robo deals with a suspect who uses metal teeth to fight back and gets them stuck in his arm. This results in Murphy questioning why anyone would willingly have flesh and bone removed and replaced with metal. While he recharges he reminisces about how he wasn’t given the choice, losing his wife and child in the process.

The final panel gives us a glimpse of the new rival robot and it feels very similar to the plot of RoboCop 2 so far, which wasn’t exactly a great movie. This strip was originally published in America in the same year as the second film so the plot should’ve been known, so it’s surprising this is going to use the same idea. But of course I could be jumping to conclusions here, I’ll wait and see how it develops, for now all the key elements that make a good RoboCop story are in place.

A really fun sophomore issue which, Conan aside, has me clamouring for more from these characters, even the Star Slammers had just about enough in their five pages to keep me locked in to their story for now. The Next Issue page promises more of the same but things are definitely building in at least three of the stories and with a giant RoboCop poster next time it’s another one to look forward to.

The third issue of Marvel UK’s Havoc will be reviewed right here this day next week, meaning you can check it out with a selection of highlights from Wednesday 20th July 2022.

iSSUE ONE < > iSSUE THREE

HAVOC MENU

Comic Reviews, Jurassic Park

JURASSiC PARK #12: WHAT A RUSH!

Leave a comment

Another issue of Dark Horse International’s UK version of Jurassic Park hit shelves 28 years ago today with a slight redesign to the cover, an even split inside once again and a few extra pages, although not quite the number it had before. Michael Golden’s cover is framed this time and the text is reduced, resulting in us being able to see more of his excellent art. Such a shame the best cover art of the series wasn’t given this treatment last month, eh?

The monthly comic had always totalled 36 pages but last month this plummeted to 28. There are 32 here so it’s slowly returning to its previous size and it’s made up of 16 outer pages made of a higher quality grade of paper, with the inner 16 the usual matt. Just like last month the Jurassic Park strip and the Age of Reptiles back up are given the same amount of room to breath, so with the increase in pages that’s 14 a pop. A nice chunky read this month and it’s a corker.

Steve Englehart’s official sequel to the first movie continues with the first part of Rush!, however on the contents page it’s listed as ‘Raptors Attack: Part One’, the name of the four-issue mini-series in the US, the first story of which was Rush. A strange decision by editor Dick Hansom, particularly when it’s not explained and at the time, without the aid of the internet to look such things up, I assumed the comic was making up a name on the contents page and I didn’t know why.

But that’s not important. What is, is that this sees the first steps in a story which may seem somewhat familiar to fans of later instalments in the movie series decades later. Doctors Ellie Satler and Alan Grant wake up after supposedly having blacked out when their plane crashed (we’re told the jungle was so thick it slowed their fall just enough) and find themselves guests of a man named Raphael in the middle of Colombia. But it’s not just our human characters he has taken in.

We find out Raphael is known as the “Columbian Criminal” by US politicians, although he says he’s innocent because the drug trade would continue whether or not he was in charge, he just profits. He comes across as a charming individual, but his isolation in the middle of the jungle, hiding from authorities while maintaining his empire, has made him somewhat paranoid. He believes the crash has delivered the perfect solution. Knowing all about Hammond’s island thanks to his links in the corrupt government, he’s going to train the Velociraptors to be his guard dogs to protect those profits.

As you can see above the dinosaurs aren’t happy about this at all. Caged up with electronic collars, the ferocity of the animals trying to get at our heroes through the toughened glass is perfectly captured by penciller Armando Gill, inker Fred Carillo and colourist Renée Witterstaetter (who, as always, is also Story Editor), with John Costanza’s letters working a treat at conveying the sound of their fury. Only two ‘raptors are being trained so far though, the third is being kept separate and still recovering from their injuries, only alive thanks to Ellie’s intervention last issue.

While the American government continues to track their plane, the doctors try to convince Raphael what he’s attempting is impossible, but he uses humankind’s taming of wolves as an example to prove them wrong. Raphael even tells Ellie, while she tends to the wounds of the injured ‘raptor, that if it is indeed impossible he’ll have no more need of her and Alan. They’ve no choice but to help. Above you can see his first attempt at control while Alan and Ellie watch on helplessly.

This continues for a few pages and the reader begins to feel sorry for the ‘raptors as they continue to disobey, trying to escape, their anger at Raphael clear in their eyes and getting electrically shocked again and again. Alan and Ellie beg him to stop but it falls on deaf ears. He’s completely crazed and doesn’t understand why they’d wish to protect animals who would tear them apart given half the chance. Eventually they tire, looking beaten, completely defeated. But they’re faking it to stop the pain, regaining their strength for one final attempt at attack.

The artwork has definitely gone up a notch

Things conclude for now when our heroes’ protests become too much for Raphael and, combined with his annoyance at the dinosaurs’ disobedience, he orders them to go and tend to his new pets. A ‘raptor in a cage weakened from a shotgun wound is one thing, but being thrown into another with these two is something else! This is the cliffhanger for now and I can’t remember what happens next, so the dread is likely reminiscent of that I felt back in 1994 when I also had to wait a month for the answer.

While it’s the same creative team behind Rush! as we had for Dark Cargo, the artwork has definitely gone up a notch. The dinosaurs in particular look how they’re supposed to again and the story was incredibly exciting as a teenager. Remember, this was a few years before The Lost World: Jurassic Park so we hadn’t seen anything like this yet, we’d only seen these creatures on the island, nowhere else.

If you were to read this issue and the following chapters (from what I remember of them) for the first time now the impact may be somewhat diluted after the five movies that have followed, but I’m still just as thrilled as I was back then because that’s how I instantly feel when I open each issue, like it’s 1994 all over again. This was the only sequel and it was developing the original movie’s plot in ways I’d never imagined.

It feels epic yet it’s ultimately a small tale of two dinosaur packs so we’ve got to know the individuals involved

Moving on to the second half of the issue and it’s hard to believe we’ve only had seven parts to the simply brilliant Age of Reptiles, superbly written and intricately illustrated by Ricardo Delgado with the bright and vibrant colouring of James Sinclair. The connection I feel I have with these silent comic stars makes it feel like I’ve been enjoying the strip for a lot longer. It just feels so epic yet it’s ultimately a small tale of two packs of dinosaurs so we’ve got to know the individuals involved, each one standing out with their body language or distinct markings.

We begin with the Deinonychuses walking alongside a huge Ultrasaurus. Initially we think they’re maybe just heading in the same direction, or using the huge beast as cover, but then she begins to tire and eventually collapses, dead from a series of smaller wounds inflicted on her by the pack. But in a moment above that shows the brilliance and the humour of Delgado, they realise they’re not alone for this potential feast.

Regular readers of the blog may recognise some of the characters below, although I must say I’m a little disappointed they’re only in this for a page or two and that’s it. Being named in #9’s ‘Cast of Characters’ I was looking forward to their introduction, especially Hades, our red Carnotaurus friend here but they’re no sooner introduced when the story moves on. But their presence is important. As a result, all but one of the Deinonychuses want to make a run for it, as you can see in the funny series of panels below. This is what I meant by how Ricardo is so good at character through body language.

Surprisingly, while we’re led to believe Hades and his team’s arrival would lead to a fight over the food, instead a battle takes place between Dark Eye, the current Deinonychus leader who listens to the worry of the pack members and leads them away to fight another day (in the photo above see the bottom panel, dino on the right), and Quetzal who wishes to stay and claim their prize (the angry looking one).

There’s a bit of back and forth, then the rest desert Quetzal to fight for the food alone, but she leaps on top of Dark Eye and next thing we’re underneath a huge skeleton in the barren landscape for a leadership battle.

This continues for another page or two and at one point they rush each other, claws bared as they pass and we see blood fill the frame. But whose was it? In the end, in a shock twist, Dark Eye is the one to fall, leaving Quetzal to assume control.

I loved the suspense here (played out over more space than I can show you) and was genuinely surprised when, panel by panel, I saw it was Dark Eye who had lost. I was even more surprised to see the amount of blood and to know they’d actually been killed.

Age of Reptiles isn’t a strip for those who like to rush through their comics, this is for people like myself who really take their time, savouring every little detail in each panel before moving on to the next. Especially since this strip contains absolutely no words at all, establishing characters, changing scenes, times of day and handling transitions all through visual queues. There are so many little details that come together to tell this story, you’ll spend just as long with it as you would with a wordy strip from any modern comic.

So what could this turn of events mean for the pack in their war against the Tyrannosaurus rex families? With their new, dangerous leader at the front the final page of this penultimate chapter sets a moody scene as they return to their nest where one of the rex females had previously killed so many of them. On the one hand it’s disappointing to know there’s only one more part of this wonderful story to go, but on the other it’s the moment it’s all been building to. I’m so glad my memory has failed me and I can’t remember how it ends because I’m as excited as I ever was. I can’t wait to see the conclusion.

A consistently great title, Jurassic Park has evolved and changed over the past year. My favourite format was definitely when we had three strips consisting of the film sequel, the strip set in the age of the dinosaurs and the sci-fi futuristic strip with added dinosaurs. But from memory the rest of the comic’s run would be two strips, with just the one back up, like this and last month’s issues. That’s not to say there are no more changes afoot, however. For now though, there’s another month’s wait ahead until I find out how these cliffhangers revolve themselves. Issue 13’s review will be up from Thursday 4th August 2022.

iSSUE 11 < > iSSUE 13

JURASSiC PARK MENU

Comic Reviews, Havoc

HAVOC #1: EXPLOSiVE START

3 Comments

While I’d been allowed up to four comics on order at the local newsagent, by the summer of 1991 this number had been whittled down to just two, The Real Ghostbusters and Transformers. Most comics I’d tried had ended up cancelled very quickly, so I’d become a bit disillusioned. Then, after months of not bothering, I decided to have a look at the comics shelves one Saturday morning and was met with this.

While I’d spotted RoboCop on the cover it was the bigger character called Deathlok that really grabbed my attention, especially when I pulled aside the free introductory booklet (images from which can be seen in the introductory post). How the booklet blacked out everything apart from Deathlok just looked really cool and having a quick flick through I also saw Conan who I’d heard of from friends, and a fiery skeleton on a motorbike. I had to try this out! At only 55p for 36 pages Havoc was a bargain, the same price as Transformers which was two-thirds the size and on smaller paper.

There was also that 16-page booklet which introduced us to each of the five main protagonists: Deathlok, RoboCop, Ghost Rider, Conan the Barbarian and the Star Slammers. It was a meaty read (edited at lauch by John Freeman and Harry Papadopoulos) and I enjoyed it so much I cancelled my order for The Real Ghostbusters after 150+ issues to reserve Havoc instead. Little was I to know only nine issues would ever see print. But for now let’s relive this excellent title, which coincidentally lasted for the exact amount of time I was off school for the summer holidays (in Northern Ireland kids get all of July and August off).

Upon returning to school some of my 2000AD-reading friends were raving about Havoc and the comparisons are clear. Havoc was also an anthology title and while the stories were imports from America the sci-fi settings and hard action had grabbed their attention in the same way as Tharg’s comic. I’d only read a few issues of 2000AD at that time and found Havoc to be much better; it was in full colour for a start, it had RoboCop and the action and characterisations seemed (to my teenage self) to be more mature. This was a huge step away for my usual comics.

So first up is Deathlok, a character I’d never heard of and who Marvel US had resurrected a year earlier. Originally created by Rich Buckler in 1974 in Astonishing Stories, there’d eventually be various characters with the same name, all deceased humans brought back as cyborgs. Dwayne McDuffie (Batman, Back to the Future, Damage Control) and Gregory Wright (The Punisher, Daredevil, Nick Fury) brought the idea back with a new human character in a mini-series and then an ongoing comic between 1991 and 1994, the first time Deathlok had had his own title. It was this run we were to be treated to, drawn by Wright and Jackson “Butch” Guice (Supergirl, Black Panther, Winter Soldier) with letters by Richard Starkings (Elephantmen, Zoids, Transformers).

Between the end of the mini-series and the start of the ongoing an eight-page prelude tale was published in Marvel Comics Presents and it’s this that Marvel UK decided to use first. (From #2 they’d go back and print the mini-series.) This gives us a proper action-packed introduction to the technology and the idea behind the strip. No, it wasn’t hugely original by the time 1991 rolled around, with Terminator movies and RoboCop himself on the scene, but something would set Deathlok apart and that was the interaction between the human brain and the computer. That’s something for a future review though.

It’s smart to begin the premiere issue with a complete story and it perfectly sums up the set up and the kind of action we can expect. Former army colonel John Kelly volunteered to have his brain transplanted into Cybertek‘s Deathlok and become the ultimate tactical weapon. Sent on a Test Run, he’s armed with paint pellets while 12 mercenaries try to take him down with live ammo. The communications between human brain and computer are relaxed, even jovial, but when Kelly decides on a little grandstanding things take a shocking turn.

The computer has calculated that Kelly’s thoughts are an input error, sending an electrical charge to eliminate the problem and killing him instantly. Its system now “de-bugged” the programming for a live scenario takes over and immediately replaces the paint gun with a live plasma pistol. But Mr Ryker of Cybertek doesn’t stop the test, even as he watches the mercenaries die one-by-one. There’s just too much money at stake. The story ends with the company casually discarding what happened because they have a deadline and Mr Ryker’s final foreboding words show us the direction it’s about to go.

In the introductory booklet a little bit of information popped out at me as a fan of Transformers. It appears Cybertek Systems Inc. is a division of the multinational oil company, Roxxon. This company name appeared a couple of times in Transformers as a competitor to Blackrock. It was just in passing, but it tied the characters in to the larger Marvel universe around the same time as Spider-Man helped out the Autobots.

Test Run is a great introduction to not only Deathlok but to the whole remit of Havoc. I particularly liked Richard Starking‘s (launch editor for Marvel UK’s The Real Ghostbusters) lettering during the interactions between Kelly and the computer. I remember the intrigue as a teenager and how I lapped up the action, thinking that if the rest of the issue was anything to go by I’d discovered a winner.

John Workman’s trademark style adds bold, in-your-face lettering to Star Slammers, perfectly suiting the narrative

Havoc may have been a meaty 36-page read for us but to fit in five ongoing strips originally written as much larger chapters (while giving each one a satisfying chuck and a cliffhanger every week) couldn’t have been an easy task. But the team pulled it off. The next strip is Star Slammers which originally saw print in #6 of Marvel Graphic Novel in the States back in 1983. Given just the four pages in this premiere issue, it acts as a nice tease for the characters created, written and drawn by Walter Simonson (Jurassic Park, Hawkgirl, Detective Comics), coloured by his partner Louise Simonson (writer on New Mutants, Warlock, Action Comics) and Deborah Pedler (Alien, Marvel Graphic Novel, Conan) although Deborah is mistakenly listed as “Parker”.

John Workman is the letterer here and among his many credits (for example Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse, Orion, Spider-Girl) he worked alongside Walter on the movie adaptation of Jurassic Park, which was published in the UK by Dark Horse International, split over the first five issues. His trademark style of breaking the panel lines which I enjoyed so much in those early Jurassic comics adds a bold, in-your-face style of lettering to Star Slammers, perfectly suiting the narrative.

Spence and Slinger are two tired soldiers looking out from the citadel they’re protecting, surrounded on all sides by campfires belonging to their enemy, the Skriks. They’ve called for help from the Star Slammers and hope more than a hundred turn up at least, although Spence thinks it’ll be less than fifty and that he and his comrades are doomed. Suddenly all hell breaks loose, there are explosions and gunfire everywhere and within minutes the enemy has been wiped out as far as the eye can see. Spence’s monologue returns just to confirm he was right, there were definitely less than fifty of them.

That’s it for part one. In the booklet their introduction is written as a warning from “the glorious planet Orion” but as yet there are no more details about characters or overall plot. As a kid I remember being underwhelmed but my attitude changed as the story continued and now as an adult I’m intrigued. On the next page comes something my adult self has been really looking forward to. I’m including it just for some fun and context about when the comic was released. It’s the first Eye Level.

This was the weekly news column with all the latest information from the world of television, movies, comics and videogames. This was around the time we had that TV show Movies, Games + Videos so this has taken me right back. Most notable for me here is the hype machine for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves because I enjoyed it at the time but the years have not been kind to the ridiculous movie. I remember all the buzz about how expensive Terminator 2: Judgement Day was for the time and it’s nice to see a film I’ve just recently rediscovered getting a quick mention, namely the excellent Rocketeer.

As well as the news above, the booklet had extra pages for RoboCop, so sure was everyone that this was a franchise to run and run. The second and third movies put an end to that. Personally, I much preferred the TV series. The original writers were creative consultants and it was more in line with what they’d written for the film (which ended up being known more for its over-the-top violence). Yes, TV series in the 90s couldn’t have the violence of today’s shows so Murphy captured criminals instead of killing them, but all the social commentary, politicking and character development was there and I loved it. It was big budget and a great character piece at its heart. (And that episode with his dad! Oh my, I’m welling up just thinking about that scene… anyway… ahem…)

The booklet is set up like a series of Wanted posters (except for RoboCop obviously) and our next antihero is described as “a so-called do-gooder” who they suspect is really just “a deep rooted psycho”. Originally created as a Western character before being renamed Phantom Rider, the first supernatural Ghost Rider was Johnny Blaze who you’ll know from the movies if not the comics. Havoc’s strip is the sequel to that run and stars new character Danny Ketch. It was written by Howard Mackie (Moon Knight, Mutant X, X-Factor), pencilled by Javier Saltares (X, Wolverine, The Prowler), inked by Mark Texeira (Hercules, Psi-Force, Megalith) and coloured by Deathlok’s Gregory Wright, although they’re all just listed next to “art”, such is the limited space in the credits. Completing the team is Michael Heisler (Arkham Asylum, writer on DV8, Union) on lettering.

Apart from this ghostly illustration as part of the title there’s no inkling about what’s going to happen or how Danny becomes who he is destined to become, but I didn’t mind that at all. In fact, back in 1991, knowing I’d only have to wait seven days for the next part I liked the slow development and the suspense it brought. Of course, the original story wasn’t written in this way, it’s only because it’s being chopped up but we’re still getting a full story every month, just a little bit at a time, Transformers-style.

So Dan and his sister Barb are in the middle of a cemetery at Hallowe’en, visiting Houdini’s grave because Barb wants to take pictures of the rituals that take place there every year. They’re spooked by a group of prankster kids who are soon chased off by Barb, while Dan cowers from the initial fright. I like this, setting up the character who will become this flaming skull as a rather timid individual.

Hearing a gunshot Barb wants to investigate and they find new character Deathwatch facing off against some goons sent by classic Marvel character Kingpin. Deathwatch has shot one of their couriers and appears to be outnumbered when some shadowy figures shoot Kingpin’s men in the back with crossbows. Removing his mask, our new villain strangles the remaining gangster but the loud crack of his neck breaking is too much for Barb and she involuntarily lets out a scream, alerting the men to their location.

It was all very serious and violent for teenage me. It was like catnip! The tone was perfect, I already liked and cared for Dan and the ending was a shock. The Next Week caption at the bottom had me hyped and the strip was instantly a favourite. One piece of the puzzle at a time was being put into place and I couldn’t wait for more. I find that feeling returning now. After Havoc’s cancellation we just couldn’t get hold of the US comics at the time where I lived, and now 31 years later this is already making we want to check out the modern Ghost Rider comics. Havoc has got into my mind again.

“They stand face to face. Both are tall men — and built like tigers. But one of them is — Conan the Barbarian”

The Frost Giant’s Daughter, Robert E. Howard/Roy Thomas

Next up is Conan the Barbarian, only known to me at the time from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies of the 80s which never really appealed to me. This turned out to be the most surprising strip in Havoc because I wasn’t expected much at all but really enjoyed it, so now it’s time to find out if I still do three decades later. The story is interesting but the real world background of it is fascinating. The original Frost Giant’s Daughter was written by Conan’s creator Robert E Howard in 1934 but was originally rejected by the magazine he submitted it to and so the character and settings were changed. It only eventually saw print as a Conan tale long after Howard’s death.

In comics, this adaptation is by far the oldest strip among those in Havoc. Published in Savage Tales in 1971, a censored version (mainly for nudity) was printed in Conan’s own comic the following year with a new opening. It’s that version we got in Havoc. Adapted by Roy Thomas (Arak Son of Thunder, Shazam!, The Dragonlance Saga) with art by Barry Windsor-Smith (Machine Man, Iron Man, Avengers) and lettered by Artie Simek (Fantastic Four, Showcase, Kid Colt), this gripped me instantly as a teenager with its action, setting, the blood and guts and the sexual undertones. It was like nothing I’d read before. I was captivated.

I had no idea this strip was older than the others and it doesn’t read as such either, the writing capturing the timeless rhythms of Howard’s originals. After a huge and bloody battle a young Conan collapses in the snow but as death creeps in he sees a beautiful woman, becoming instantly enamoured with her. Confused as to how she could be so scantily dressed out in the cold he assumes she must come from a village he didn’t know about, somewhere he could rest before his next battle. But there’s nowhere nearby, her identity is a mystery and her see-through clothing (censored here) entices Conan into the chase.

Her existence doesn’t make sense here in the snow covered mountains, so Conan’s pursuit changes from one of lust to a search for answers, fearing it’s some sort of vision or trick. I can’t remember the exact reason and I don’t want anyone to tell me if you know, I’ll find out in real time as always. At the end the fact it’s a trap is made very clear, but no other answers are forthcoming yet. I find myself remembering the sense of childhood wonder I had in reading this and I’m intrigued now to find out more about Conan himself, as well as the mystery at hand. A strong start.

The final strip was the one I was most looking forward to when I initially saw the lineup as a teen. Deathlok looked awesome but I already knew Alex Murphy aka RoboCop and it felt exciting to see him in comic form. What a shame then that this first chunk of Kombat Zone is probably the weakest of this first issue. I put this down to the fact I’ve seen so much more of RoboCop since then and in particular the characterisation in the TV series. Here he comes across as rather two-dimensional and his speech patterns read very strangely, rather clichéd compared to the first film or the show.

But hey, it’s only the first five pages! I’m not going to get ahead of myself. I’ll see how it develops. Robo intercepts a hover-bike gang as they seemingly take down an innocent stroller in Old Detroit. But in the background someone is filming the confrontation with RoboCop and when the victim makes a plea to pay off his assailants one of the bikers makes a passing comment about already being paid. There’s more to this random attack than meets the eye.

Murphy may not have heard this or seen the man with the camcorder but the way the bikers attacked is enough for the detective to have his doubts. But our mysterious stranger throws in a “smart-gun” (which was rather forward thinking for an early 90s comic) which kills the ‘victim’ Alex had saved and the last of the bikers before he can give anything away. It’s all over very quickly and after some of the more substantial reads it’s a bit of a disappointment when this is the big licenced strip.

Of course, none of the ongoing stories in this issue were ever designed to be broken down like this, so overall the comic has done a wonderful job of selecting the right characters, stories and ending points to give us a flavour of Havoc’s future. So I can forgive the feeling of two of the strips being all too brief this time out, we’ve been spoiled by the package as a whole.

What a shame the great team assembled for RoboCop aren’t given any credit because the Deathlok ones are mistakenly reprinted instead. RoboCop: Kombat Zone reads like a who’s who of comic legends in my eyes. It’s written by none other than Alan Grant (Judge Dredd and Batman, including the Judgement on Gotham crossover, Toxic!), pencilled by Lee Sullivan (Transformers, Doctor Who, Tekworld), inked by Kim DeMulder (Batman, Transformers, G.I.Joe), coloured by Steve White (Dragon’s Claws, Xenozoic Tales for Jurassic Park, Transformers)and lettered by Richard Starkings. What talent! After finding this out I’m all the more excited now for the rest of the story.

I’m just going to finish off now with a quick look at the other non-strip pages in this premiere issue, notably the Next Issue page and the retro adverts. You may notice the date for #2 is given as Monday 15th July 1991. Havoc was advertised as being on sale every Monday and a lot of other comics said so too but were released on the Saturday beforehand. The date on the cover of weekly/fortnightly Marvel UK comics was always the date the next issue would go on sale, kind of like an expiry date for each issue, the date the newsagent would remove it from the shelves.

Havoc has the date of the following Saturday on its cover but on the Next Issue page it’s two days later, the following Monday. I have very clear memories of picking this up every Saturday morning throughout the summer of 1991 and in later years when I worked in various newsagents in my teens and early 20s comics were never released on a Monday. (The only publications beyond newspapers that would ever arrive on a Monday were women’s weeklies.) So I’m not sure why the wrong date is given here, but it gets even more out of sync later in the run as you’ll see.

Elsewhere there’s an advertisement for Havoc’s sister title Meltdown both in the comic itself and on the back of the free booklet, there’s one for Thorpe Park dressed up as a competition and on the back cover of this mean, action-packed, mature read are the Fiendish Feet! Oh I loved those yoghurts as a kid.

This has been a rather long post, I know. But it was necessary to introduce Havoc, its strips, their main characters and all of their creative teams. It’s been a blast revisiting this issue and I’m so glad I haven’t got long to wait until I do it again for #2, albeit maybe with a slightly shorter blog post. The next issue of what should’ve been a very long-running comic will be here on the OiNK Blog from Wednesday 13th July 2022.

GO TO iSSUE TWO

HAVOC MENU

Comic Reviews, Jurassic Park

JURASSiC PARK #11: ‘RAPTOR’ MEANS ‘BiRD OF PREY’

Leave a comment

It’s been a long wait for this issue of Jurassic Park so I’m chomping at the bit to get stuck in. I can remember as a teen being overjoyed to finally see the comic appear again, however my initial reactions once I opened it were mixed. First of all this is my very favourite cover of the whole series. No, a Velociraptor doesn’t really take control of the plane, it’s just a funny reference to the main story inside. To this day Michael Golden‘s cover still raises a giggle which I’m sure was the intention. I just wish it wasn’t covered with so much text.

But then came a little bit of disappointment because I discovered there were eight less pages, reduced from 36 to 28 and there was only the one back up strip, no Xenozoic Tales in sight. I’d been really enjoying those stories but at least Age of Reptiles was still here and it was as magnificent as always. Things would (begin to) return to normal next month but initially I didn’t know this so I wasn’t sure if Tenrec and Hannah would return. What is here is great fun though, so let’s get going.

In the world of Jurassic Park small, seemingly inconsequential actions can have catastrophic consequences

The final part of Steve Englehart’s Dark Cargo begins with the pilot doing what humans always do in the world of Jurassic Park; proving that small, seemingly inconsequential actions can have catastrophic consequences. Feeling the plane’s weight shift about he puts it on autopilot and goes to help George Lawala, finding he’s already killed one of the juvenile ‘raptors. But they don’t see another skulking in the shadows, hunting the two men. It attacks, killing the pilot and maiming Lawala, but not before he’s able to shoot it in the neck.

It’s here when Jurassic Park makes its real point of difference. Dr Ellie Satler (she and Dr Alan Grant were Lawala’s prisoners, check out the previous reviews) hears the gun shot and discovers the horrific scene, the dinosaur dying in front of her. Even knowing it would’ve killed her in a heartbeat and that its siblings must be nearby doesn’t stop her from trying to save its life. It was just doing what it does, hunting prey to eat. I love this page.

A quick note about the artwork. The final panel above is a strange one and at times penciller Armando Gil does seem to draw the ‘raptors in a way in which they’re not really identifiable (sometimes in this chapter it’s also confusing in regards to which one is which and we have to rely on the dialogue to decipher the images), but mainly he has done a great job of capturing the dinosaurs as real world animals (check out his magnificent Tyrannosaurus rex in #6). His action scenes can sometimes seem sparse, but inkers Dell Barras and Fred Carrillo imbue them with great texture and atmospheric shadowing. John Costanza is our letterer and Renée Witterstaetter brings bold colours alongside her role as Story Editor.

“The ‘raptors.. somehow, it’s got to be the ‘raptors..!!”

Dr. Ellie Satler

While Ellie ties a tourniquet around the animal’s neck another ‘raptor is looking on, which Alan spots and distracts, with both it and the final sibling giving chase. Panicking, he dives into an open crate but escapes through a side hatch as the dinosaurs jump in after him. Able to close the hatch and lid he traps them inside, attaches the pulley system and dangles them out the back of the bomber! Well, out there they can’t do any harm. Famous last words, Alan. This is Jurassic Park after all.

Suddenly the plane starts diving and they rush for the cockpit. Refreshingly, they don’t immediately take to the controls and somehow land the plane like in every movie and TV show ever. Instead, Alan admits the only thing he recognises is the wheel and he tries desperately to stop them crashing, not really sure what to do. The plane is being pulled about and the autopilot was knocked off, but why? Ellie is sure it has to be the Velociraptors, but how? Take a look at the page above.

I remember reading this at the time and being thrilled with the intelligence of the dinosaurs, especially this lot. You have to remember before the first movie came along the general public had a vision of dinosaurs as stupid big lumbering lizards. Jurassic Park changed all that and I can distinctly remember that same feeling of excitement from this comic. The swinging crate pulls the plane further down, Alan struggling to level it off in a desperate bid to stop it nosediving when we get to this month’s cliffhanger.

The voice from the other side of the binoculars is going to be key to how this story develops from here on. It’s a more exciting cliffhanger than the one which led to a two month wait, so thank goodness we’re back to a monthly schedule again. I can remember parts of the strips to come, in particular what Ellie saving one of the ‘raptors will mean later, and I can’t wait to revisit these stories and compare them to the movie series we’ve had since.

For now, take a good long look at this piece of gorgeousness.

As I said at the top of the review there are only two strips this month, with our main story and the one back up getting equal space of 12 pages apiece. So we’re straight into the Age of Reptiles. It opens with the panel at the top of this post, which certainly sets the scene! That is followed with the above spread and I find myself just completely immersed in this world again. Still up upon the cliffs, the Deinonychuses attack the T-rex pair. They put their all in, I’ll give them that, but they never stood a chance.

One is kicked over the side and lands in deep water below, quickly swallowed up by a giant ocean predator. The remaining two are swiped off the side by a glancing blow from a ‘rex  tail, one landing hard on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, dying instantly but breaking the fall of the other. Throughout this, and the rest of the story, the individual characters really shine through, as you can see from this selection of highlights below.

From being taken by surprise from behind, to the horror of their friend dying, to the little baby T-rex being coached to hunt by their parent Long Jaw, every dinosaur here is an individual brought to life by the genius of creator/writer/artist Ricardo Delgado and colourist James Sinclair.

The youngster spots Dark Eye who is clearly deliberately wanting to be chased, as you can tell from that final panel above. That pose almost says, “Me?”. Haha, it’s brilliant. The young inexperienced hunter doesn’t realise it’s a trap and gives chase. When his prey disappears behind a rock he follows blindly, right into an ambush of half a dozen of Dark Eye’s pack. Long Jaw is the adult T-rex and suddenly he realises he’s alone! He runs through the forest in desperate panic, following the trail or possibly the scent and finally comes upon this scene on the final page of the chapter.

I vividly remember seeing this image for the first time back in 1994. The towering Long Jaw roaring into the sunset, the flying predators already circling and the heartbreaking image on the ground. It was truly shocking. I’m sure I wasn’t the only reader who’d loved the tiny little ‘rex, such was his depiction in this and previous issues. We’re racing towards the climax of Age of Reptiles and I know it was big, I know it was ultimately a very satisfying conclusion, but for the life of me I can’t remember how it ends. It was 28 years ago after all. I’ll impatiently wait and see.

Both of these strips ratcheted up the tension so I’m really looking forward to the next issue. This one may have been thinner than any other in the series and down one strip but what is here is superb from start to finish. Plus, I’ll just mention how much I love that cover image again. To finish with the final two pages contain more of those retro adverts, the first of which is for a video release of a show I remember being on TV at the time, and the back cover is for a comic magazine from Dark Horse International that would end up saving Jurassic Park from an even earlier cancellation. More on that later in the summer.

Just on a personal note, it’s so strange to look back and see a video for £10 that only contained one episode of a show. I do remember buying Babylon 5 on VHS, each volume costing £8.99 and containing only two episodes. It’s crazy to think back to that now when we’re so used to box sets. Two Christmases ago I was able to purchase the entire five seasons of B5, 111 episodes for £40 on my Apple TV! (All restored to their original aspect ratio and remastered by the way, just to let fellow fans know.) How times have changed.

Anyway, back to Jurassic Park and that’s where we leave things for now. The next issue’s review will be here from Thursday 7th July 2022 and by then I’m sure most fans will have seen the brand new film which is due for release tomorrow as of the time of writing. Suddenly, remembering buying these comics is making me feel very old!

iSSUE TEN < > iSSUE TWELVE

JURASSiC PARK MENU

Comic Reviews, Wildcat

WiLDCAT HOLiDAY SPECiAL: ANOTHER BiTE

Leave a comment

It hasn’t really been that long since the final issue of Wildcat, two months in fact, but it’s great to hold another edition in my hands, especially one I’ve never actually read before. I wasn’t aware of it as a child because I hadn’t followed the characters into Eagle when the comics merged. There’s a rather lengthier wait after this but I’ll get to that at the end of the review. So what we have here is the standard Fleetway Holiday Special format of 48 large, glossy pages full of strips, a prose story and extra features thrown in for good measure.

After a contents page and a recap of the set up from the preview issue Turbo Jones reclaims his position as the lead strip (now drawn by Keith Page) and like all of the stories here it’s a standalone tale and not linked to the ongoing serials that all ended with cliffhangers in the last issue. Of course, by now those stories could have concluded or moved on to goodness knows what in the pages of Eagle. (That’s something I’ll look into in future posts.) Some of these read a little strangely because of this.

For example, as far as I was concerned Turbo was still languishing on his quest through the Valley of Death, but here we’ve skipped forward to the next chapter in his adventure on the new planet. We find him and his robotic friend Robo accidentally stumbling across two aliens out for blood (or whatever runs through their veins. If they have veins). This isn’t a quick summing up of things either, in the end they realise the two creatures have no interest in our heroes, they have literally stumbled upon this fight. But of course if they don’t defend themselves they’ll go the same way as the loser.

Turbo is knocked unconscious by a falling branch and Robo saves the day by knocking coconut-like fruits off the trees onto the heads of the aliens. No, really. It ends with Turbo disbelieving this tale of heroism and Robo talking directly to the reader, asking them to write in and tell Turbo what happened. It’s a fun diversion of an opener but feels very slight in comparison to the fortnightly. However, I do love that alien design. Moving on now to something somewhat darker stalking the corridors of the Wildcat itself in The Wildcat Complete, brought to life by Jesús Redondo.

That’s right, we have an actual vampire onboard. There’s also plenty of well-judged humour here too so it’s unfortunate we don’t know who wrote the script. Here on the first page the casual thoughts of our victim raise a laugh as he catches himself on about the “misty evening” before meeting his end, and later on as another victim is running late in getting home he thinks to himself how he’ll “get it in the neck” from his wife! These are the only people we see die (taking the Wildcat Death Toll up to 40) but mention is made of them being only the latest in a series of disappearances, so our toll is actually unknown.

During the day our vampire goes by the name Dr. Joseph Lugosi, obviously a play on the name of renowned actor Bela Legosi who is probably best remembered for playing the title character in the 1931 film Dracula. It’s not just his name the story pays homage to either, just take a look at the doctor in this close-up frame.

There’s a rather dark moment where we see him dispose of a body by taking it to the food recycling plant, which is basically a bunch of retro-futuristic robots munching down on anything thrown into their pit. We get a little internal monologue of how Lugosi applied to be on Wildcat because there’d be no sunlight in space to stop him feeding, and we see him queued up to get on board, everyone else in casual gear, him in his dark cloak, standing out a mile. Given his appearance and dress sense, when he thinks his plan is foolproof and no one would ever suspect him it seems ridiculous, but it’s actually all explained in the end.

When an attack is disturbed mid-feast he has to leave the body behind and as Wildcat Commander Griffin reviews the tapes he sees Lugosi disappear into thin air. He ends up tricking Lugosi into believing he’s replacing an ill doctor on an expedition to one of the planet’s moons, but before anyone else boards the shuttle craft it’s launched out of the Wildcat on autopilot. The last page of the strip is below and very neatly wraps up the story.

I really like how Griffin had to research what a vampire is (so far into the future are we, their legends appear to have been lost) and that he simply reacts logically to the problem. There’s no disbelief, just a problem to solve and the history tapes give him the answer. While I can only show you a little bit here he’s a cool-as-a-cucumber character and one I wish we’d gotten to know properly in the comic. Check out that final caption too, vampires are now extinct! Another great anthology story, one that’s made me realise just how much I’m missing them every two weeks.

Loner gets a good bit of space in the special but unfortunately there’s not a comic strip in sight. There’s a two-page spread of pictures taken from the early issues and his initial scraps with, and ultimately friendship with, The Fuzzballs. There are also two pin ups, both drawn by David Pugh. One is brand new and the other is a reprint of the cover to #7 which was so good it deserved another outing as a mini-poster without the title and issue details. To this day it’s probably my favourite piece of art from Wildcat. In fact it’s one of my favourite pieces of comic art ever.

On top of all this we get a Loner story written by editor Barrie Tomlinson, however it’s told in prose with images of David’s taken from the regular comic. At five pages and full of text it’s a meatier read than I expected and actually a whole lot better than the strip we’d been reading for the last handful of issues. Falling into a chasm he’s apparently rescued by an alien slug creature who carries him to a large cave full of slugs where he also sees another, two-headed alien. They have to fight to the death for the entertainment of the slugs! (Are they an unfriendly relation of the Dargonlites from the Joe Alien story?)

It’s a struggle. The two-headed creature is relentless but soon Loner is able to escape by causing chaos in the audience (he throws one of the slugs into the crowd as a distraction). Back outside the alien is on Loner’s tail and in what looks like the end of the fight Loner’s gun Babe ends up pressed against the creature’s throat. But Loner backs off, trying to communicate he doesn’t want to kill him, he has no beef with him.

Both heads broke into hideous grins, then it turned and walked away.

Loner prose story

Communicating is difficult however and relies on body language more than anything, which is interesting. However, I’m disappointed he no longer has the headband from previous stories. It’s only given a passing explanation that he’d returned to Wildcat and had it removed before coming back down. This completely contradicts the story where he received it! Such a shame, but perhaps a necessary evil because the images they had to use didn’t include it, rather than it being a story choice.

Anyway, the two-headed creature continues to follow Loner at a distance. When our mercenary gets back to his shuttle it appears to attack, throwing Loner to the side and leaping into the craft. Are they going to steal it? Nope, there was a deadly snake-like predator inside. The alien had saved Loner’s life. But before Loner can try to communicate a thank you, he’s attacked by the alien again! He wins the battle by unhappily having to end its life, or be killed himself.

In the end, the creature had been a warrior and it was always going to be a fight to the death, but Loner had saved him from the underground slug beings and he’d had to repay that debt first. This would’ve made for a great multipart strip in the regular comic, it’s full of character and paints a wonderful, exciting picture. Such a shame it’s only illustrated by images from unrelated stories.

There’s one more special to come and I’m very excited by it

Alongside the double-page spread of Loner’s furry friends there’s a four-page feature about some of the robots that reside aboard the Wildcat and which have featured in previous stories, most notably the Wildcat Complete series. Features like these act as a nice way for new readers to catch up and get an idea of what Wildcat is all about, but unlike some of the Super Naturals Holiday Special features which felt like filler, these are nicely put together and are still enjoyable for regulars.

Alongside more reprinted pin ups there’s another new one which hadn’t made its way into the fortnightly and it’s of one of my favourite characters from the Kitten Magee story, Bonnie. As regular readers of the comic (or even these reviews) will attest, Kitten’s team were just starting to get fleshed out some more, even going on their own adventure without their leader in the final issue. I look forward to reading the ongoing tales in Eagle and Wildcat at a later date, mainly for them.

Their story is up next in fact, as always (and just like the pin ups) drawn by José Ortiz and written by James Tomlinson. Stalked by a three-headed giant cat-like predator it ends up capturing Kitten’s robotic pet, Crud. Tracking the beast down they find a ginormous cyclops, but as they try to save Crud the cat-like creature attacks and is shot and killed. The previously monstrous cyclops bursts into tears and the team realise they’ve made a horrible mistake, they’ve killed the giant’s pet. Not only that, but upon discovering a giant spacecraft overgrown with weeds they piece together a fascinating backstory.

It’s important for me to note here that at the beginning of the strip the team had captured a docile kind-of-giraffe animal for study by Doc. You’ll see below how that comes back right at the end. This story contains hints at the world building Wildcat could have achieved if it had carried on for years to come. We had some in the twelve regular issues but of course everything was still in its early stages of development. We can only imagine the epic, overarching stories editor Barrie Tomlinson and his team could’ve concocted over time.

Four pages within this special are made up of a Tiger comic reprint called Jet-Ace Logan, a pilot who works for the futuristic interplanetary C.I.D. approximately 100 years in the future. Two stories are included here, two pages apiece and the one I wanted to show is called Haywire House. A modern home exhibition is about to be robbed and Logan stops the burglars in their tracks in a suitably ingenious way. I particularly like the art by Brian Lewis (Eagle, TV Action, Countdown), with so much of it crammed on to the page and jam-packed with details, all without losing any of its clarity.

In his book Comic Book Hero, Barrie explains how he was the editor of Tiger from 1969, after these strips appeared originally. He turned the comic into one with exclusively sports-related strips but he always had a fondness for Logan. Back to the special and perhaps the couple of reprinted pin ups and the Logan pages were marked for something else but after the cancellation of the comic plans changed. A very real possibility.

Before a very special ending to the issue there’s one more strip to read. Wildcat fans will know that must mean it’s time for David Robinson‘s Joe Alien, although not in his usual full-colour format which is a shame (in fact apart from the pin ups and a readers’ drawing spread the whole issue is black and white) but Ron Smith’s artwork still shines. The strip itself finally gives us some background information on the interesting character and how he ended up as the last of his race. In fact, for fans of his this was a hugely important strip!

Tracking a massive meteoroid heading towards their planet, his people soon discovered it was being pushed from the other side by a fleet of Kargroz ships. Joe’s race had long before abandoned space travel, keeping only one small shuttle and so he was sent up to negotiate, but the Kargroz kill for fun and for honour and couldn’t be bargained with. Almost blasting Joe out of existence they hurled the meteoroid into his planet, destroying it and all who lived there.

Fuelled by revenge Joe hijacked one of the enemy ships and crashed it into the side of one of the others, all of which were in a straight line formation, side-by-side with each other. Where Joe had crashed, his ship now faced down the long line of enemy ships. Firing one huge laser blast it tore through them all, killing everyone and leaving him the only survivor of the battle and of his race. This next page of Ron’s reminded me he drew for Marvel UK‘s Transformers. It has that feel about it. Looking into that however, I was surprised to see he only ever drew one strip (#82)! Such was the impact he must’ve made on me I thought he’d been a semi-regular artist on it.

Joe’s men console him and try to tell him they agree with his seeking revenge, but the strip ends with our hero rejecting this. “Revenge? How can any revenge balance the millions who were killed? I am only pleased that my external brain pack allows me to switch off such memories… forever!” That is about as heartbreaking an ending as you can get as he switches off all memories of his loved ones.

One final feature rounds off this edition and it’s a special Back to the Drawing Board spread of Ian Kennedy’s original design sketches for the Wildcat itself and some of its characters. At the time of writing this Ian has only recently passed, so seeing these drawings and his superb cover (which is on the back as well) is tinged with sadness. I’ve always loved his Wildcat design and his originality, not only with its shape but also its bright colours. I think we can all agree he also did a superb job of realising Barrie’s desire for a truly diverse cast of exciting heroes, which was rare.

Thus ends our look at the Wildcat Holiday Special from 1989. As I’ve said before I do own the graphic novel collections for two of the characters so I’ll be covering them at a future date, and I’m going to be tracking down the others through the individual issues of Eagle and Wildcat. But in the meantime we haven’t quite finished with Wildcat in its own form just yet.

There’s one more special to come and I’m very excited by it. Once again it’s an issue I’ve never read before. It’s even bigger than the Holiday Special and comes with a simply gorgeous high gloss, high quality cover. The Wildcat Winter Special was released several months later so look out for its review on Thursday 17th November 2022. Now that’s going to take some will power on my behalf, it’s sitting on that shelf right over there looking at me! I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait though.

iSSUE 12 < > WiNTER SPECiAL

WiLDCAT MENU

Comic Reviews, Jurassic Park

JURASSiC PARK #10: BETRAYALS, TAiLS & GOLDBLUM

Leave a comment

Another exciting Gil Kane cover that bares absolutely no resemblance to anything that occurs inside, or any other issue or even the movie. It’s the second of two covers from the American preview comic, the previous one shown off last month. That Topps Comics preview contained two small strips set before the events of the movie and the first was underwhelming to say the least. The second, the headline story inside this issue, is far better and concentrates on the man we all loved to hate, the person behind all the chaos, Denis Nedry.

Portrayed by Wayne Knight in the film, Gil produces a great likeness here while not getting so hung up on it that he ends up expressionless. Betrayal is written by Walter Simonson and tells the tale of Nedry’s arrival on Isla Nublar to work on the computer systems that would be so instrumental in the creation and eventual downfall of the park; networking of computers, park systems, zoological simulations and crowd control measures all make up his complicated job. Dick Giordano (Detective Comics, The Sandman, Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man) joins Jurassic Park to ink Gil’s pencils, John Workman returns as letterer, as does Renée Witterstaetter as colourist (and Story Editor for this and the sequel story later in the issue).

Some fans online have mistakenly said there’s an error in Nedry’s and Hammond’s relationship in the film. Hammond‘s favourite phrase was, “Spared no expense” and yet Nedry is constantly saying he’s underpaid, his boss unwilling to negotiate. Here, Simonson picks up on a plot thread from the novel that the film touched upon (and those fans missed) and elaborates on it. Nedry’s bid was very high, no expense was spared, but it was made before he knew the secret of what the attractions on the island actually were. Once he found out he thinks he underbid, but Hammond is a man who honours his word and expects others to do the same.

Realising the fortune Jurassic Park is going to make Hammond, Nedry constantly tries to spin that his work is going to be far more complicated than first estimated, but really it’s not true and he’s just pushing for more money. Hammond doesn’t budge. His computer experts perfectly relayed to Nedry what was required, the fact the animals are dinosaurs doesn’t change anything. Six months in however, Nedry begins to realise extra money will never be forthcoming from his computer work and when he overhears Henry Wu discussing the embryo laboratory he clicks that’s where the money is, in the dinosaurs, and their embryos are perfect for smuggling off the island.

The story ends with his first attempt at reaching out to Ingen‘s competitors but for me the real meat of the story is seeing the beginning of the relationship between these two characters. Also, unlike the previous prequel story (Genesis) foreshadowing isn’t shoved in our faces, instead it just concentrates on telling a good story based around a key plot point in the movie, with the characters at its heart. Hammond comes across as a bit too cantankerous at points compared to Richard Attenborough‘s charming portrayal and more like he is in the novel, but in the end it’s an interesting little prequel and a nice addition to the comic.

There’s no Xenozoic Tales this issue so the remaining strips get more room to breath, although I do miss Tenrec and Hannah. They’ll be back, though. Alongside the eight-page Betrayal and the ten-page Dark Cargo (for a meaty 18 pages of Jurassic Park) is Ricardo Delgado‘s always stunning Age of Reptiles which makes up 11 pages, sandwiched in the middle. It starts off serenely with a large Ankylosaurus enjoying some bark from a monstrously sized tree that dwarfs even this huge dinosaur. Then they hear a noise and step to the side to have a look around the tree. Personally, I think the way this simple gesture is drawn is just so full of character.

I was beginning to feel sorry for the peaceful beast who now found themselves outnumbered three-to-one against our favourite predatory rascals, the Deinonychuses. As you can see from what happens on the next page I needn’t have worried. This is enough to make the smaller dinos run off, beaten with one swipe of a tail. I just love this big action shot though, especially since the build up was so peaceful, it’s such a surprise! We get another little respite when we check in on the Tyrannosaurus rex pack as Long Jaw arrives back and nuzzles the noses of his mate Talon and their baby, with the other male Blue Back and his mate Climber looking on.

The whole pack is angry and soon Long Jaw sees why. The large circular nest is empty of all its eggs except for a few pieces of broken shell and one last intact egg, tucked in next to Talon. We then get a double-page spread and a really brilliant moment as he looks down at evidence of who robbed their nest and, even though a T-rex‘s face shouldn’t be that emotive, we can tell he knows exactly who was responsible. The way Ricardo lays this out with his face between the footprint and those same feet now on a nearby beach is just genius.

Look very closely at that big panel in the middle of the page. Have a look up into the cliffs and, amongst the silhouettes of the craggy terrain you should spot the shapes of a head and a tail. I’ll admit I don’t think I ever noticed this the first time around back in the 90s because it surprised me when I spotted them now. It’s so subtle, I love it. It also leads on to the climax of this issue’s chunk of the story.

After filling their bellies with the eggs the three thieves start making their way up a very narrow path along one of those cliff faces and come face-to-face with our two female Tyrannosaurs. Their size and power in comparison is perfectly captured and I particularly like the overhead view showing just how trapped the smaller dinos really are. There’s even a tiny bird looking on. Little details like this amongst all the action and drama is a trademark of Ricardo’s and one of the reasons I love his work so much.

The leader of the Deinonychuses turns and barks orders at the others, one of whom turns and runs at the T-rex coming up behind them, the story cutting off for this issue as they leap into the air, claws bared. Age of Reptiles was never intended to be told in this way; it was created as a graphic novel to be read from beginning to end in one sitting. But it just works so well, editor Dick Hansom doing a great job of knowing when to edit to make each piece feel like a complete chapter. It’s a great cliffhanger. (Yes, that was very much an intended pun.) However, it’s a particularly frustrating ending this time, which I’ll explain after the third and final strip.

“Phooey on your ‘Chaos’! We’ve got boats, planes, radar…!”
Renny

“So does the war on drugs.”
Dr Ian Malcolm

Steve Englehart‘s Jurassic Park: Dark Cargo continues with Dr Ellie Satler, Dr Alan Grant and the juvenile Velociraptors transported from boat to a huge air transport and during the flight our human heroes eventually awaken to find their cage surrounded by the hissing, clicking raptors. One tries to pick the lock of the cage just as they did to their own, but Alan’s broken belt buckle from his failed attempt, still caught in the lock, stops them. They run off, the pilot noticing shifting weight so George Lawala (the first in a long line of greedy humans who would underestimate the intelligence of dinosaurs) goes to investigate. He frees Alan and Ellie and gives them shotguns, the chapter ending with them all searching the huge plane.

That’s the main plot out of the way. That’s not to say it isn’t fun, it certainly is, it’s just there are two individual pages elsewhere in the story involving subplots that really stood out to me. The first involves the army’s continuing attempts to clean up the mess of the island’s failed park. Having tracked Alan and Ellie to the beach they’re at a loss as to where they are. For me it’s great to see the new character, INgen‘s Dr Fischer back again (he first appeared in #6) and I’m still hoping we get to see more development of him in the future. But it’s the person on the next page that elicited the highest level of excitement when I read this back in 1994.

Of course, nowadays we’ve seen Dr Ian Malcolm, so memorably played by Jeff Goldblum, in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and he’ll be returning again in the sixth film, Jurassic World: Dominion later this year (at the time of writing). At the time his return was a complete surprise. If the comic had a proper editorial and Next Issue promos I’m sure this would’ve been mentioned before it happened, so for once I was glad of the minimalist approach. It meant the surprise was kept until this very moment. He just appears in this one sequence as he recovers from his injuries from the movie but it’s exciting to see the character in this first official sequel, and he’s perfectly drawn by Armando Gil and Dell Barras (with John Costanza on letters and Renne colouring).

Also mentioned here is ‘The United States Central American Command Center’, or ‘CENTAMCOM’, the comic’s own take on the real world CENTCOM and the resources they have in their search. It brings a larger scope to the background story that’s slowly developing while the main plot focusses on our two main characters. I always enjoyed these aspects of the films, always wishing they’d delve deeper into the inner workings of INgen and the larger world within which the stories were set. Then it all ends with the biggest shock of all. Under the final panel we’re unceremoniously told #11 wouldn’t be on sale until Thursday 9th June. What?

This issue went on sale on Tuesday 29th March 1994, so suddenly my favourite monthly comic was telling me I had to wait ten weeks for the next chapters to all these stories. Can you now understand why I was so frustrated earlier? The use of the JP logo on the cover instead of the previous title graphic (I love the logo but preferred the previous one for the comic) was just the first big change to come. Ironically, this issue felt once again like the first one I bought, settling back into a great format after a couple of months of trying to fit too much into its 36 pages. But that would all change. I’ll go into that next time because at this point originally I hadn’t a clue why there was such a long wait. You’ll just have to wait to find out too.

I’ll finish off with a look at the very-90s adverts this issue contains. There’s a teeny tiny liddle widdle radio which would’ve been right up my alley back then and it isn’t dissimilar to that given to Bond by Q in Skyfall many years later. The back cover has an advert for Dark Horse International‘s Manga Mania as the animation style started to take hold here, mainly thanks to Akira (with a hint of things to come for Jurassic Park on the bottom-left of its cover) and there’s a convention to match. Finally, those highly expensive phone-in competition lines which, when you think about it, should never have been in the pages of comics such as this (or the magazine Commodore Format I was collecting at the time which had plenty of them) when so many young readers could be tricked into spending a fortune on their parents’ phone bills. (No, I didn’t.)

So, with a clifftop battle in full swing and a pack of deadly Velociraptors on board a cargo plane we have to be patient and take a breather from the comic for a while. It’s difficult enough to not read ahead but this is going to be ridiculous! I’ll just have to cope somehow. The next Jurassic Park review will be here from (big sigh) Thursday 9th June 2022, just one day before the release of the next movie in fact. Oh, now I’m all excited again!

iSSUE NiNE < > iSSUE ELEVEN

JURASSiC PARK MENU

Comic Reviews, Super Naturals

SUPER NATURALS HOLiDAY SPECiAL: HiSTORiC HORROR

2 Comments

Welcome back to Ghostworld for the very last time. Just a month after the final issue comes Fleetway‘s Super Naturals Holiday Special for 1988, as ever edited by Barrie Tomlinson. Kicking off with a Sandy James cover which would’ve been fun for any kids who received the oversized Tonka trucks for Christmas, here we have 48 glossy pages which, much like the Adventure Book, focus more on the action aspects of the comic rather than the horror.

There are two exceptions (including a reprint from Scream!) which check the horror box for the young readers, but other than that it’s all licenced strips and extras. That means there’s no ventriloquist’s Doll or readers’ suggestions for Scary Cat, both of which were highlights of the regular comic so that’s a shame, especially knowing this would be the last publication in the series. But let’s not get too down, the idea of a Holiday Special was to have lots of fun one-off stories to read while off school. Let’s see how the Super Naturals fare with theirs, shall we?

It starts high in the air in SkyJack! The evil Super Naturals flub an attempt to transport themselves into our world, with only Snake Bite able to make it and imaginatively the strip has him crashing through a tiny airplane window, terrifying all the passengers on a transatlantic flight to America. Hypnotising the pilots, he shares his strength with them to save the crashing plane, but only because he wants to use it to dive into Washington which would cause much more destruction in our world.

Snake Bite was always the most interesting of the evil characters and the set up for this story is great. We even have Hooter and Lionheart using the Ghost Finder to nudge the plane up just enough so that it’s trajectory is right for the pilots to take over before Lionheart slashes a hole in the fuselage and throws Snake Bite out, who loses his telepathic control as a result. I like how it’s not an easy, miraculous rescue plan, as Hooter bluntly states. It’s just a shame the artwork doesn’t match the exciting potential of the script.

It’s even more of a shock when you find you who the artist is. It’s Geoff Campion‘s work (Eagle, Lion, Valiant) whose work I’d loved in Ring Raiders, another of Barrie’s titles. However, here things feel somewhat rushed, even unfinished in places, such as when the Ghost Finder crew make their entrance the buildings in the background look like rough layouts. As the story goes on more details are lost and backgrounds become even more sparse, almost like it was hastily finished for a deadline. It’s not the usual exemplary work we’ve come to expect from Geoff and I’m intrigued as to why, but unfortunately that’s a question lost to the mists of time. It’s still a fun story to open with, a really enjoyable complete tale perfect for a Holiday Special.

To make a special even more so, there are always a few extras. We have new pin ups of the toys, some of the marvellous posters from the fortnightly have been shrunk down to A4 size, a one-page Ghostling Tale features a thief making his getaway only to board the Titanic and there’s a pretty poor quiz. Much like the one in the Adventure Book it’s just a series of strip panels and the questions are all a variation of “Who is in this picture?”. We do get some lovely reader art in Ghostworld Gallery including a superb rendering of Skull by David Round who was clearly a fan of Alan Langford‘s depiction of the character.

There’s also a page called Incident at Rock Canyon which looks suspiciously like an unused cover. Drawn by Sandy James it clearly hadn’t reached the colouring stage when the comic was cancelled. To accompany it is a short story by way of explanation, reminding me of the inner front page to the Ring Raiders Special printed after that favourite comic of mine also abruptly ceased. It’s a nice addition and it’s always interesting to see work that was still in progress for future issues.

Next up is a Scary Cat Challenge story. This isn’t based on a reader’s idea like some of the very best in the regular series, instead it’s a reprint from Scream! #9. Part of the Library of Death series in the comic, Ghost Town was written by Fred Baker (Roy of the Rovers, Lion, New Eagle) and illustrated by Mike Dorey (Action, Warlord, 2000AD). An old Western town in America witnesses the arrival of its first automobile, which promptly has a brake failure and ploughs straight into a dynamite storage (of course it does), blowing it and the whole town up in a huge chain reaction of explosions. That’s just the beginning.

In the then-present day of the 80s two young lads pull up to a gas station in the desert and ask for directions, but there’s more to the little old man who helps them than they realise. They soon find themselves in an old fashioned town instead of back on the highway and are greeted by the sheriff. The only problem is he’s a waking, talking skeleton! Telling the boys they’re going to stand in a fair trial for murder, soon a whole town full of dead bodies with other ideas are chasing them down.

Cornered in the sheriff’s office with his guns, the young men have no choice but to try to shoot their way out and get back to their car, but they’re no match for one of the local gunslingers. Seeing the two innocent lads gunned down was quite the shock when I turned the page! I know it was created for a different comic but to see it in the pages of Super Naturals it makes quite the impact. I never owned this edition as a kid but if I had (and not knowing this was a reprint) I know I would’ve loved this story because of this horrific final page.

The next strip is the definite highlight of the whole comic, even though it only comes in at four pages. I believe the artist for The Making of Evil could be Keith Page although this is unconfirmed. The middle couple of pages are your typical tale of Skull and Burnheart causing terror and destruction as they set fire to a small Austrian town at the end of the nineteenth century. They’re defeated by Lionheart and Thunderbolt but our main focus is the young boy the evil Super Naturals crash in on at the beginning of the their story.

The strip doesn’t explicitly tell us his name but instead treats the young readers with the intelligence to either know straight away who this is, or to piece it together by the end. I was still in primary school when this was released so I wouldn’t have been taught anything about World War II at this point, but some slightly older readers may have, and even if they hadn’t a rereading in a year or two would’ve brought a fresh, terrifying perspective.

The boy’s reaction to Skull inspires the evil leader to bestow upon him unlimited power to score against those he hates, but even Skull can only hope the boy will spread some form of fear; he has no idea of what he’s actually created. For now we see the boy carry on with their work, helping spread the fire and blocking the streets from help. In the final issue’s review I said how it would’ve been great to see the Super Naturals interact with more myths from our past like they did with the Lady of the Lake, but to see a real-world evil inspired by Skull is something I didn’t expect! It’s a brave move by the comic and an inspired story that once again shows the potential of the franchise.

I also adore that awesome Tomb of Doom looming over the characters as they disappear back into Ghostworld, and I wish it had been depicted as such throughout the whole series. Then, after that somewhat creepy tale comes a bit of comic relief in the shape of Ghostlings, this time focussing on Hooter and Scary Cat and as ever it’s drawn by Anthony Williams. The slight plot sees the witch trying to wreck a bit of havoc by having lions escape a zoo close to a town.

Hooter tries to stop her by using his magical sleeping potion but he’s quite a clumsy wizard is our Hooter and he drops it in a mid-air kerfuffle between the pair. But luck is on his side and instead of Scary Cat being put to sleep the animals end up having a doze instead. However, when Scary Cat transforms back to her witch form the hard landing sees her join them in the land of nod. Our hero is then easily able to carry her back to the Tomb. Silly stuff, but then again the best Ghostlings strips always were, that was the whole point of them.

Racetrack Riot is the special’s prose story and follows F1 driver Alan Dixon as he test drives a new super powered engine, which of course Skull wants for his Bat Bopper truck. Alan and his team are kidnapped and forced to remove the engine from their car. Outside Lionheart, Thunderbolt and Hooter (who is making up for being underused in the regular comic by the looks of it) are watching closely. It’s our clumsy wizard who comes up with the plan and after transforming into his owl form he swoops in from the skylight on which they’re perched and seemingly attacks the F1 team.

There’s method in his madness of course. It looks like a regular owl, possibly nesting somewhere nearby, has flown in. So the evil characters simply ignore him while at the same time in this form he doesn’t inadvertently scare the humans into freezing in fright for once. Instead, they dive into the maintenance pit under the car for cover. This allows the main Super Naturals to launch an attack and duke it out without fear of harming anyone. It’s inconsequential stuff but entertainingly written by Barrie Tomlinson. Unfortunately though, we’re not sure who the artist was.

The final story in the comic and for any of these characters is Tooth and Claw and I believe it could also be drawn by Keith Page. I’ve checked with some sources and parts of this (in particular the Super Naturals themselves) seem to be in his style but the jury is out for how the wild animals are drawn. So it could be Keith. Anyway, the story is set in an unnamed country suffering from a drought, its inhabitants hungry and the animals dying. Through a sacred temple emerge Skull, Snakebite and the underused Rags (as someone interested in Ancient Egypt I wish they’d used him more, he’s a Pharaoh who can turn into a cursed mummy) in the Bat Bopper and Lionheart, Eagle Eye and Mr. Lucky in the Ghost Finder.

As they give chase the good guys are surprised to see the villages have been left untouched by their evil counterparts, until they come face to face with a wild stampede. Hypnotised by Snake Eyes, the animals have either been forced into a frenzy to chase down and eat the human flesh of the nearby villagers, or into a mad rage to stomp all over their homes and kill them underfoot in the case of the elephants. But the plan hasn’t reckoned on one simple thing, namely Lionheart’s third and final form.

It’s surprising to think the character hasn’t been placed into this kind of environment before now. It’s the kind of story which could’ve been developed into a serial to delve deeper into his mind, especially if he befriended other lions. After all, he was given this lion form by Specter for a reason, could he have found a kindred spirit in them? But then again, the comic was still in its infancy when it was cancelled, so who knows what could’ve happened. I have to say though, it’s fun to see him take to this form with relish, acting like an actual wild lion and fighting off the hypnotised, innocent animals (without killing them). Only a few characters got the chance for any kind of development by the end and unfortunately Lionheart wasn’t one of them. This is like a teaser for what could’ve been.

Before we sign off from the last ever edition of this comic there’s just time for a quick plug for some of Fleetway‘s range which may have appealed to the target audience. Battle had merged with the new Eagle after a phenomenal run, Roy of the Rovers was still going strong and another of their licenced comics, Mask had proved a lot more popular, lasting 80 issues and it was certainly a hit with some of my friends. These could be described as the Barrie Tomlinson range, as he edited all of these.

A reprint of a Skull poster with the top and bottom chopped off to fit the inside back cover, followed by the title logo on the rear round things off and that’s it. In an edition which contained a lot more fun and action-orientated strips, the horror stories of the Scream reprint and the Hitler tale really stand out. So does the action-packed Lionheart ending, if only to show what could’ve been as a great example of the licence.

Never again would the young readers see these fun characters and the horror strips that came along with them for the ride. While there seems to be very little to tell from the creative team because memories seem vague when it comes to Super Naturals, keep an eye on the blog for some possible extra content in the future nonetheless. It’s sad to see the comic end and it’ll remain a treasured part of my collection, taking pride of place on the Barrie Tomlinson Trilogy Shelf. I hope I’ve been able to do my bit in keeping the memory of this classic alive.

BACK TO iSSUE 9

SUPER NATURALS MENU

Comic Reviews, Visionaries

ViSiONARiES SPRiNG SPECiAL: FiNAL RERUNS

Leave a comment

So I’ll be honest, I can’t really describe this as a comic review, that would be rather cheeky of me. But then again, it was a bit of a cheat for Marvel UK to call this the Visionaries Spring Special too. Don’t get me wrong, when I spotted this on the shelf back in 1989 I was thrilled. I hadn’t known there was a monthly comic the previous year, having only become interested through the cartoon which aired here in the UK after the comic had already ended. I received the annual for Christmas and then in April their origin story (which I’d just read in the Annual) was reprinted as a back up strip in The Transformers, which I’d just started collecting a few months prior. It was after that I spotted this edition.

Through these I discovered there had been a regular comic, albeit a very short-lived one and I was sad I’d missed out on the further adventures of these characters. So this special was all new to me. A brand new strip featuring two of my very favourite characters from the cartoon, whose toys I owned and whose origin story I was now (very) familiar with. I was in comics heaven. But readers of the monthly may have felt somewhat shortchanged. Have a look at the ‘Special’ next to #5, the final edition of their comic.

They look somewhat similar, don’t they? This continues inside. In fact, this is an exact copy of #5 bar only a few exceptions. Obviously the issue number has been changed on the cover (although the incorrectly coloured Darkstorm remains) and the editorial on page two has been rewritten, aimed now at more casual readers rather than those who had been following along. The layout and images originally created by the monthly’s editor Steve White remain the same, however.

The strip, Dream Maker, is presented once again in its entirety and makes up the remainder of the comic’s interior. Written by Gerry Conway, with pencils by Mark Bagley, inks by Romeo Tanghai, letters by Janice Chiang and colours by Julianna Ferriter it’s a great strip, that much is true. Altogether there are 24 pages here with the exact same external gloss paper making up the outer eight pages and the regular Marvel UK stock for the rest. On the last page of the strip, page 23 of the comic, the final message has been edited to include the new logo for Transformers and the issue number and date of the original merge have been removed.

At this time Transformers was changing to a three-story format and to mark the first seven issues of the new look they were reprinting the first Visionaries story (this would mark the third time we saw it in one year). It kicked off with this lovely cover promoting the new look, including the return of the Knights, drawn by John Stokes.

The reason behind this was to let the G.I. Joe story get ahead and create a buffer between the monthly US publication and their weekly UK printings. So really, to say at the end of the Spring Special that fans could “Follow the further adventures of the Visionaries” wasn’t exactly true. Instead, anyone picking this up and then buying Transformers would be met with one reprinted story and then nothing after that, so no further adventures at all.

This is the first comic series on the blog to reach its conclusion

So, as I’m sure you can understand there’s no point whatsoever in me reviewing this story all over again when I did so in depth in July last year. It is a great story though and if you see this edition on eBay and want to dip your toes in I’d highly recommend it, although it appears to be a somewhat rare item and I was very lucky to spot it. I only bought it myself to complete the set. We do get a nice new advertisement on the back for something of an experiment by Marvel UK to launch their own humour comic in competition to Beano and The Dandy, which had something of a surprising mascot.

The Visionaries Spring Special comic brought me so much joy as a kid. It gave me a glimpse into the world of the Visionaries as presented in their comic form and I loved it. It was read several times and felt so mature, so grown up compared to the other toy-based comics I’d collected previously, something I’ve gone into throughout the series on the blog.

Nowadays though, as the final comic we’d ever get it’s clear this special was nothing more than a bit of marketing to get some additional readers to buy Transformers. Even the advert for it in the pages of other Marvel UK comics was exactly the same as that used one year previous (almost to the day) to promote the monthly, with only the issue details changed.

Left: The Real Ghostbusters #1 – 12th Mar ’88
Right: Transformers #211 – 25th Mar ’89

A curious addition to the series but it does complete my set. I’d already come to terms with the fact there’d be no more new stories after the annual but seeing this story again just reminds me of the potential the Visionaries had to become one of the very best licenced comics stories ever.

This is the first comic series on the blog to reach its conclusion so if this is the first you’re seeing the Knights of the Magical Light there are ten other posts just waiting to be read. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them! As clichéd as that reads, it’s still true.

BACK TO ViSiONARiES ANNUAL

ViSiONARiES MENU

Comic Reviews, Eagle, Wildcat

WiLDCAT #12: JOURNEY’S END

Leave a comment

This Vanyo cover with lead character Turbo Jones is an exciting mystery, begging the question of how he ended up in this predicament after the conclusion last issue. The ever-changing colours of the Wildcat logo bring us this variant, almost matching the creature below it. It’s a great start and I’m sure it thrilled me at the time, not knowing of the sad news within. There’s no clue here, and there isn’t until the end of our first strip, so let’s start there and see how things pan out, shall we?

Brought in front of the Burroids‘ leader, The Brain, Turbo faces a trial for supposedly defecting to the other side, the Arglons. Of course, he was actually captured and forced to work for them, but he escaped and made it back to help his friends. However The Brain, for all of its apparent knowledge (it is a big floating brain in a glass sphere after all) isn’t too hot when it comes to assessing the situation, or indeed holding a fair trial. Simply deciding not to believe Turbo, he’s sentenced to walk the Valley of Death.

The first of these obstacles is the creature from the cover, who Turbo eventually dispatches by decapitating two of its heads and strangling the third. It’s a great, action-packed sequence and begs the question, if this is the first obstacle what are the rest like? He ends up trapped in the deadly vines of a fruit tree as he tries to take some food but thankfully Robo finally catches up with his master. (Oh sorry, I mean friend!) There’s a nice moment between the two when Robo apologises for having emotions and worrying about Turbo, and Turbo telling him he’ll never complain about that!

A complete shock, especially at only 12 issues in

Their friendship has always been an interesting one and at times surprisingly sweet among all the action and excitement. As they make their way deeper into the valley Turbo plunges into a trap, crashing through branches laid out on the ground over a hole, so clearly there’s someone else here. It’s a great action episode while still maintaining the characterisation we’ve come to love. The Turbo Jones story has always achieved this perfect balance, testament to its writer (and the comic’s creator and editor) Barrie Tomlinson. However, in the corner of the final panel are the words, “This story continues in the first issue of Eagle & Wildcat – on Sale April 1st.”

As a child I was devastated. Not again! I obtained my free Wildcat Preview issue with the final edition of OiNK which had crushed me because I’d never had a comic cancelled on me before. As I’ve mentioned previously it had felt like OiNK was passing the baton to Wildcat and so this was a complete shock, especially at only 12 issues in. As usual the news was promoted in as positive a light as possible and on the next page was this advert for the first of the combined issues.

As much as these ‘Great News For All Readers’ kind of messages tried, it was always sad for those collecting the cancelled comic. There would be an attempt to make it sound like both titles were merging into one awesome comic, but in reality it was always clear one was getting the chop and a little bit of it was going to appear in the other. So, just like when three of OiNK’s characters joined Buster, I didn’t follow Wildcat into the pages of Eagle. However, I’ve some news on that front which I’ll get to below.

For now, let’s continue with the final colour episode for David Robinson‘s Joe Alien (in Eagle he would be in black and white). Facing down the oncoming storm of murderous vegetation and seeing the roots encircle his men, our peace-loving alien has no choice but to do the one thing he hates the most, he resorts to violence and picks up a laser to free his team. They retreat into a cave that has walls covered with eggs belonging to the Dargonlites, the giant slugs from previous issues. Happily for me (because I think they’re a brilliant creation) there’s one left guarding the eggs and they take to the trees with fervour in defence of the unborn young.

This one slug takes care of the advancing hordes and just as Joe and his men leave we see one of the hatchlings burst out of its egg with the promise of survival after their devastating loses last time. But this is Wildcat, we can’t be having too much of a happy ending, so as they continue their search for the missing shuttle the mossy floor itself comes alive like an evil turf, rolling up to engulf them. It’s certainly an imaginative cliffhanger, I’ll give you that.

The story would continue in Eagle but readers would have to wait, the little box at the end promising the story will continue in a future issue. As you saw in the promo only Turbo and Kitten would be in the comic to begin with, what with limited space available for the merge. This was another reason I didn’t carry over my comic order. Yes, there’s only so much room for the Wildcat strips and nothing could be done about that, but for young me I only wanted to read about these characters and didn’t like the fact I’d only get a small portion of Wildcat every week.

Joe does go out on a high though. His plight on the planet has been huge fun. Originally drawn with the fervent imagination of Massimo Belardinelli it wasn’t long before the incredible Ron Smith took over and I’ve loved every single panel he’s produced. Even when the plot slipped a little (just for an issue or two) his art still made this one of the best strips every single time. Joe remains very much an enigma and it’s such a shame we won’t get to see him develop and find out about his mysterious past.

James Tomlinson‘s Kitten Magee strip is full of twists, turns and surprises this issue, making the cancellation all the more frustrating. With Kitten knocked out we see Aurora take command of the team and soon they’ve lured one of the large Hoboans on his floating platform to within reach, commandeering his vehicle. In the process he falls off and through a glass window, which kills him. This makes our team an even higher priority target, to be terminated on sight. We return to them for the cliffhanger but first we catch up with their leader and her pet.

Crud calling Hobos “mate” raised a chuckle. At first I thought these fishy creatures might turn on their owners like the ones out in the public pools (and that might still happen of course) but for now we’re left not knowing what’s happened to the little metal fella. We catch up on the rest of the team for the final two pages, hiding in a food storage unit full of rotting, stinking meat. We get an interesting nugget of info on the Hoboans here as Doc postulates that given the shape their bodies are in, this may be the only way they can consume food, when it’s already broken down by rot and decay. I really enjoy little details like this, it makes the fantastical feel more grounded.

This is the first time the story has focussed on the team without Kitten and it works so well. They’ve each had a little bit of time in the spotlight in individual scenarios before, enough so that when they’re interacting with one other they feel like well developed individuals and not just cannon fodder. The story ends with the discovery of a hidden doorway and an ancient city, destroyed by the Hoboans a long time ago. The stench, the dust of remains, a whole civilisation wiped out of existence, this is such a surprising twist and these final pages ooze atmosphere.

Damn it, why did more people not buy into this superb comic? It should’ve carried on for many more years! The letters page reassures readers a few times that the stories and characters are going to continue, still trying to sell it as a 50/50 Eagle/Wildcat merger. Unlike Super Naturals the address is still here as readers’ contributions would continue and there’s even a guest appearance from Max, Eagle‘s fictional editor.

Loner, written by editor Barrrie Tomlinson is our final serial and just like Joe it would be a while before he’d appear again. This is extra annoying because, even though the plot recently hasn’t been all that hot, the cliffhanger asks so many questions. Anyway, you’ll remember from #11’s review how our mercenary friend was plummeting back to the forest fire below. He has a messy save as he lands on and smashes the eggs in the nest he flew away from. I’ll admit his next thought as the fire races up the tree towards him made me laugh.

If you’ve been following along with these reviews you’ll know this second tale in Loner’s epic quest has felt a bit too loose, a bit too made-up-as-it-goes-along for my liking. I was prepared for more outlandishness this issue and awaited whatever random event would befall our hero. I could never have predicted what transpires here!

It begins with the wind picking up and spreading the fire even quicker across the forest floor. Of course to Loner in his miniaturised state it feels like a hurricane is trying to pluck him up off his feet and in fact that’s exactly what happens. Clutching desperately on to a leaf to stay put, it’s blown away with him still clinging on as the wind whips up the fire below. This is all good stuff so far, for once it’s something you could see happening in this far-fetched scenario, but what if I told you that very same wind somehow blows him so far up he leaves the atmosphere of the planet? Yes, really.

Frozen in the upper atmosphere, Loner’s unconscious body floats out into space and apparently passes relatively close by the Wildcat itself (the second character to do so in as many issues) before he starts making his descent. The comic has always been a far out there, wild and fantastical ride and I’ve loved it for that as well as for its originality. But this is a step too far even for the far-fetched. I can’t remember my reaction to this when I was in the age range of the target audience but this (much) older version of me didn’t like this one bit.

I’m not going to go into detail about logistics or the science, this is a fun children’s comic after all and I’m not about to start taking it all too seriously. But even from a story perspective it just doesn’t make sense and is yet another seemingly random event plucked out of thin air (in this case very thin air) just to be bigger and more exciting than the previous one. Maybe I loved it back in 1989 but I review these classic comics as I find them now, with no rose-tinted glasses and I just want another well constructed plot for one of my favourite comics characters, like we had for the first half dozen issues. But back to that cliffhanger I mentioned, when I suddenly found my interest piqued again.

David Pugh‘s artwork shines as always but that penultimate panel with Loner’s understated shock is simply superb. Our unflappable hero, always ready with his quick wit, actually looks speechless here. It’s not overplayed, his facial expressions not exaggerated for effect. David’s style is so good he doesn’t need to do that. The subtlety and realism in his drawings of Loner while the character is surrounded by fantasy sci-fi elements of psychic alien lizards, cute furballs and giant monsters perfectly captured this particular hero and why I loved him so much.

I imagine my face was somewhat similar to Loner’s when I originally read this, the final cliffhanger of the comic’s run. Has he travelled in time? Is that giant the real Loner? Is this shrunken Loner actually a copy? This is the kind of cliffhanger ending I’ve been craving for the last half-dozen issues or so and it just so happens to be in the final issue. It’s not the end of his story for me, as I’ll get to in a little bit, but before we move on to the final strip there are a couple of ads I thought might interest you.

It’s Holiday Specials time and alongside Mask (which had already folded and finished its merge with Eagle), Roy of the Rovers and Battle was something called the Spinechillers. The top corner of the cover has a tiny little Scream logo but in reality there were no characters or strips within that had featured in the short-lived weekly. It was even presented by a new character called Ghoul (instead of the usual Ghastly McNasty) who had presented a strip the year before in Eagle. There was also news of a free gift in Buster but for me at the time the big news was below that.

Finally, just as Uncle Pigg had promised in the last issue of OiNK there was a new edition of my favourite comic! That final OiNK had introduced me to Wildcat and now here was the final Wildcat telling me of the return of OiNK. Everything had come full circle. Although claiming it hadn’t had the chop is a bit of a stretch. Still, it was exciting and a mood booster after the cancellation of the comic in my hands. Speaking of which, time to read the final strip, this issue’s Wildcat Complete and it’s drawn by Carlos Pino (TV Century 21, Starlord, Ring Raiders).

I really have my doubts about Turbo’s selection process. We’ve seen horrible xenophobes, serial killers, robot slave drivers and now bullying bosses in these anthology stories. With only several hundred people on board from our whole race, who was left behind to make room for these idiots? Zak‘s bosses are all of this type, shouting and screaming at him just because he gets sick easily, and they certainly don’t care that he currently has a cold. To punish him they force him outside to clean the hull of Wildcat and it’s there the above happens.

We can tell where this is headed, War of the Worlds-style

Yuggoth, Master of Chaos looks very much like a man in a rubber suit, 80s Doctor Who-style alien which suits the retro futuristic nature of this read through perfectly. He inhabits poor Zak’s body and straight away we can tell where this is headed, War of the Worlds-style. Of course, Zak isn’t believed by anybody and only he can see Yuggoth’s reflection in the mirror, so he gets scolded some more by his bosses before one of them sets him up with a psychiatrist-droid which is clearly programmed to get the results his boss wants. (Again, how did Turbo pick these people?!) It’s only a matter of time though before our visitor has seen enough to make his move.

In the control centre of Wildcat’s computerised systems the two head operators are female, which is refreshing for an 80s comic. However, they also regularly belittled Zak like his bosses and so I felt no sympathy when they’re the first to die at the hands of this alien foe (bringing the Wildcat Death Toll to 38 in its final issue). Seemingly unstoppable, Yuggoth’s victory seems certain when suddenly he begins clutching at his throat and keels over, dead. Later, a scientist concludes the creature caught a virus its body had no defence against. It was Zak’s cold.

In the end Zak becomes a hero but in today’s post-Covid (almost) world that final panel is just plain scary! It adds to the overall thriller feel to the story, with these humans just opening themselves up to pain and misery thinking it’s their salvation, but clearly that wasn’t the intention of the ending at the time. It just goes to show how these strips not only aged well over the decades, they could even improve.

That’s your lot. With this story Wildcat comes to an end. At the time I had no interest in buying Eagle (sorry, I mean Eagle and Wildcat) so this was where these stories finished for me. Only over these past couple of years, over three decades later, have we finally got Rebellion‘s new graphic novel collections of Turbo Jones and Loner so that I can find out what happened. Even though I purchased the books over a year ago now, I’ve been waiting for the read through to finish before I devour them. Unfortunately though, it’s looking increasingly unlikely the other characters will be getting similar treatment.

I’m currently collecting the remaining Kitten Magee, Joe Alien and Wildcat Complete stories in the Eagle comics released over the twelve months after Wildcat finished, but that’s going to take a while. First, I’ll be completing my original 80s collection with the Wildcat Holiday Special and Wildcat Winter Special, neither of which I’ve read before, so look out for them in May and November of this year. Then after that I’ll go back to read the adventures I didn’t as a kid to see how it all ended (not a real time trek through them all though, I’ll be summing up the Wildcat content).

So I’m not done with Barrie Tomlinson‘s Wildcat just yet, just taking a breather. The Wildcat Holiday Special review will be here from Friday 27th May 2022.

iSSUE 11 < > HOLiDAY SPECiAL

WiLDCAT MENU