NAVY JONES OF SCIENCE COMICS

24/04/2023

Warner Bros. Discovery has given Rogers a one-off licensing deal to wrap up the story he started with the animated series.

17/03/2023

The new book, for 9- to 14-year-olds and written by two Penn undergrads and an alum, details what physically happens in the body as girls experience puberty, plus the internal emotions and external social forces that accompany it.

26/11/2021

I've long been a fan of Tintin's arch-rival Spirou, the Belgian bellboy. But it was only recently, thanks to the Comic Book Plus website, have I've been able to read early issues of Le Journal de Spirou. I was startled to discover they feature reprints of the comic strips RED RYDER, DICK TRACY, and the strangely familiar MARC HERCULE MODERNE. A.k.a. SUPERMAN.

26/02/2021

This may be one of the oddest public service comics I've ever seen; Blondie and Dagwood for The National Association of Mental Health.

13/12/2020

Here's another example of a Marvel UK licensed title, EARTHWORM JIM, based on the animated series based on the character. It's entirely possible it's intentionally weird and chaotic, in the spirit of the cartoon. But it's just as likely just plain unintentionally ugly.

12/12/2020

12/12/2020

Did you know that the UK branch of Marvel Comics printed all kinds of licensed comics featuring original material not seen in the United States. For example, REAL GHOSTBUSTERS #56

24/11/2019

One of the odder things about Marvel UK was the number of times they published comics based on licensed properties, but Marvel USA didn't. Such as Adventures of the Galaxy a pretty good one season late 80s syndicated animated space western. The Marvel UK title ran for just nine issues between June and September 1988.

21/10/2019

I know I haven't posted in quite a while, but to make it up, here's the first of several stories from the 1958 Knockout Annual. First up, a sort of in color store featuring that oddball amalgam of The Original Captain Marvel and the still in theaters Steeve Reeves HERCULES movie (that's the only explanation for why a superhero with Thor's belt of strength dresses the way he does) THUNDERBOLT JAXON.

01/07/2019

Thunderbolt Jaxon is a superhero Captain Marvel type (Jack Jaxon, dons a magic belt with the power of the god Thor, turns into an adult superhero with incredible strength and the power of flight) who first appeared in an Australian comic in 1949 in an attempt to create content that could stave off invasion by American comics. He later appeared in Knockout between August 1958 and January 1960. He had a brief second life in Buster in 1964 re-branded as "Johnny Samson",

25/03/2019

Here's one of my favorite British comic features which is sadly nearly unknown here, Space Family Rollinson. Created by Graham Coton in the early 1950s during the height of the great international space mania. In it, normal British family the Rollinsons, Bob and Berthe, Joe and Joëlle, were kidnapped by humanoid robots, the Zektrons, who abandon them off Saturn. Along with the nice art part of the appeal was how the Rollinsons dealt with standard space scenarios. It was reprinted in France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal.

15/02/2019

I am of the opinion that most licensed material done for UK comics was of a quality substantially lower than their US counterparts. As you can see for yourself, in the stuff featuring classic Disney character the characters are odd, off-model and, well, out of character. But even odder is the original material clearly intended to appeal to the UK audience. Such as...Tommy Tanner's Magic Spanner ('spanner' is British for 'wrench'.

03/02/2019

Today's offering is TELE COMIC, a monthly New Zealand version (I presume) of the UK's weekly TV COMIC which adapted then-current TV series. First, there's THE PERSUADERS! (exclamation point intentional) an action/adventure/comedy series starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore who right wrongs, and protect the innocent, Then there's Gerry Anderson's UFO, ALIAS SMITH & JONES (outlaws who tried to earn a pardon by righting wrongs and protecting the innocent), and SKIPPY THE BUSH KANGAROO (where the hell is Skippy: The New Generation?), And Quinn-Martin's CANNON, a gimmick detective who's defining characteristic was his weight.. It was also unlike other detective shows because Cannon had no friends, family, a friendly/hostile contact on the police force or even a snitch he regularly shook down for information. He didn't seem to mind though.

05/01/2019

I know almost nothing about this one other than it's Australian and very nicely drawn. But it is very nicely drawn.

14/12/2018

I haven't done one of those in almost a year and while it's true I've been otherwise occupied, I certainly have a lot of free time on my hands, so I'm going to start doing these again on a semi-regular basis.

14/12/2018

Morgyn the Mighty is a British action-adventure comic strip about a super strong shipwreck survivor that was drawn by Dudley D. Watkins. Clearly, he was a Tarzan clone with a couple of twists; he wasn't raised by animals and he was a kind off odd strongman/jungle man hybrid.

02/04/2018

Streamline, was co-created by Denis Gifford and Bob Monkhouse, first appeared in Streamline Comics #1 (1947), Scientist Keenan King injected himself with the experimental formula Elixir X, which turned him into "the fastest fighter in the world". Which is a super awkward way of saying he had super speed. He was billed as "Britain's Superman" and appeared four times. There were quite a number of post-war UK comics featuring really primitive, even amateurish artwork, but this one look like it was drawn in a moving vehicle.

02/04/2018

From the Comic Book Plus website, I present into evidence Capitao 7 ("Captain 7"), a popular Brazilian superhero created in the late 50's obviously owed a lot to Superman who also seeming to owe something to the jet-age DC Comics "science heroes". HIs alter ego was a chemist who kept his uniform in a compressed form, except instead of a ring, he hid it in a box of matches. The art while a bit scratchy is quite handsome and while in Portuguese this story seemed to focus on 7 getting stressed out out a gang of cat girls who might have inspired by either the Black Cat Cat or Catwoman. Bonus fun fact; in spite of his superhuman powers, Capitao 7 carried a sidearm on his belt.