Future Tense #4

Britain's Chilling New Science Fiction Weekly

26 Nov 1980; Cover price 14p.
32 pages. B&W contents.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

One of Marvel's Big Ones!

Edited by Paul Neary.

Cover p: UNKNOWN.
r: UNKNOWN.

Contents:

 2 Britain's Most Exciting Science Fiction Weekly! (half page) text introduction by Paul Neary. / The Concise History of the Galaxy (half page) UNTITLED [Fresh Brains] w: Tim Quinn; a: Dicky Howett. / Indicia

 3 The Micronauts Divided They Fall, part two, w: Bill Mantlo; p: Pat Broderick, i: Armando Gil, lettering by John Costanza.

r: Micronauts (Marvel Comics) #19 (Jul 1980).

12 Meet the Micronauts, part three, Bug w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

13 Seeker 3000! The Dying Sun!, part four, w: Doug Moench; a: Tom Sutton, lettering by Denise Wohl.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #41 (Apr 1978).

18 BMX - The Hottest Thing on Two Wheels! advertisement for Halfords.

18 Star-Lord Windhölme, part four, w: Chris Claremont; p: John Byrne, i: Terry Austin, lettering by Tom Orzechowski.

r: Marvel Preview (Marvel Comics) #11 (Summer 1977).

23 Paladin In Manhattan, They Play for Keeps, part four, w: Don McGregor; a: Tom Sutton, lettering by Gaspar Saladino & Bruce Patterson.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #43 (Aug 1978).

27 Warlock And Men Shall Call Him... Warlock!, part four, w: Roy Thomas; p: Gil Kane, i: Dan Adkins, lettering by Sam Rosen.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #01 (Apr 1972).

32 Science Fantasy in Television, Cinema and Graphics in-house advertisement for Starburst.

As we got to press this week, the big news is that we have got Star Trek for you, and its scheduled to begin in issue 7! We will be printing the Marvel authorised comic strip version of the recent film, and then getting into new adventures... untold stories of the crew of the starship Enterprise!

If the current roster of material was stronger then the announcement of a further two issues wait might have been bearable, but with the interminable "adventures" of the Micronauts, Star-Lord and Paladin to look forward to, this is not an announcement that is pleasing to read. But there is some news which has piqued my interest:

Also we might just have a few photographs of our recent Marvel Convention for you!

This is more like it. I'm a sucker for behind-the-scenes material, and any record of the convention has to be better than the strips. There must be a wealth of information on the Marvel Convention awaiting publication...

The brief appearance by Ant Man at the end of the current Micronauts story, leading into a full appearance in the next issue, shows that this is not, however it is marketed, an SF story, but merely another tired, predictable superhero story, with all the scientific curiousity of a cocker spaniel. The fact that it is a superhero story isn't an immediate mark against the series, but, because of it being marketed as SF, the superhero elements are a drawback.

The Seeker 3000 makes the jump intact, triumphantly blazing though an eternity of warped time and space!

For thr first time in man's history, infinity is at hand, the vast cosmos within grasp...

...and it took this to accomplish it: the death of the sun!

In one searing instant of cosmic hell, Earth's reality is... vaporised.

Every planet, every moon and asteroid, every man, woman and child in the solar system dies...

...save these precious few aboard a warp-streaking ark named Seeker-3000. They gather now, in mingled jubilation and grief...

The main problem with the warp sequence in Seeker 3000 is its glorious celebration of something which, elsewhere in the title, is treated as a relatively easy accomplishment, undermining the difficulty of the process, and making the characters look like idiots for not figuring out an easier way of accomplishing what others have done with far less destruction. It isn't even depicted with the strength of an average Star Trek or Star Wars FTL sequence, which further cuts away at the melodrama on show.

Thankfully a brand new story is promised for the next issue.

In Chinese Legend, it is told that Buddha died on a bleak new year's day...

On that dying day, Buddha supposedly summoned all living creatures to his side. Twelve responded, and he rewarded each with a year of homage on the lunar calendar.

The moments of interest in Paladin are largely unconnected with the battle which the titular character is involved in, and when he starts talking any tension evaporates. Paladin is a wooden, two-dimensional walking plot point, with dialogue so corny and hackneyed that I actually laughed out loud when reading his utterances:

You killed Marsha. She was sensitive... alert... vibrant.

You ended all her moods and excitements.

That makes me smile every time I read it. How, given the number of people involved in the creation of the strip, could such awful lines get through the entire creative process to see print? No comic strip of this type should turn the death of a character into prime comedy material.

#03

Future Tense

#05

Future Tense #2

SF from Here to Eternity!

12 Nov 1980; Cover price 14p.
32 pages. B&W contents.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Edited by Paul Neary.

Free 'Build Your Own Spaceship'.

Cover p: Dave Cockrum, i: Joe Sinnott.
r: recoloured cover from Marvel Premiere (Marvel) #41 (Apr 1978).

Contents:

 2 Future Tense ...Second Great Issue! (half page) text introduction by Paul Neary. / The Concise History of the Galaxy (half page) UNTITLED [Heavy Sunspots] w: Tim Quinn; a: Dicky Howett. / Indicia

 3 The Micronauts Child Eyes!, part two, w: Bill Mantlo; p: Howard Chaykin, i: Al Milgrom, lettering by Irving Watanabe.

r: Micronauts (Marvel Comics) #18 (Jun 1980).

12 Meet the Micronauts UNTITLED, part one, w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

13 Warlock And Men Shall Call Him... Warlock!, part two, w: Roy Thomas; p: Gil Kane, i: Dan Adkins, lettering by Sam Rosen.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #01 (Apr 1972).

17 Seeker 3000! The Dying Sun!, part two, w: Doug Moench; a: Tom Sutton, lettering by Denise Wohl.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #41 (Apr 1978).

21 Paladin In Manhattan, They Play for Keeps, part two, w: Don McGregor; a: Tom Sutton, lettering by Gaspar Saladino & Bruce Patterson.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #43 (Aug 1978).

26 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in-house advertisement for Star Wars Weekly.

27 Star-Lord Windhölme, part two, w: Chris Claremont; p: John Byrne, i: Terry Austin, lettering by Tom Orzechowski.

r: Marvel Preview (Marvel Comics) #11 (Summer 1977).

32 Science Fantasy in Television, Cinema and Graphics in-house advertisement for Starburst.

This may be one of the most unappealing covers to appear on a Marvel title, with the crew of Seeker 3000 rendered as plant people, or really bad Green Lantern cosplayers. The interior is, mercifully, black and white, so further artistic desecration is limited to the truncation of the strips rather than rendering them entirely unappealing through ham-fisted colouring.

The Concise History of the Galaxy isn't quite as funny (yet) as other Quinn and Howett strips, though I'm holding out hope that it improves. As it is the sole beacon of originality within the pages of Future Tense, and with the remainder of the contents struggling for definition and differentiation in the issue, it is a strip which really should be more energetic.

The Microship Endeavour has escaped from the Microverse and has landed on an unknown planet! They see amongst the giant vegetation, a house which they recognise to be in the style of a dwelling from planet Earth... But it is much too small! Two of the Micronauts - Space Glider and Marionette - approach the curious structure from the air...

If, like most intelligent readers, you will have guessed that Marionette and Arcturus are looking at a doll's house, then you are smarter than any of the characters in this story. The sole concession to some semblance of originality are models capable of movement, though as the notion of living toys dates back to the myth and legend we shouldn't rush to congratulate the script - the creepy girl, whose powers animated the toys, is not necessarily a villain in events, but merely a child wishing to play.

To have such an unusual cast of characters, with the unique selling point of being the same size as their action figures (on sale in all good toy shops, circa 1980), but delivering such a predictable tale with them, makes this is massive disappointment. The wasteful tale is mercifully wrapped up quickly, and followed by a single-page introduction to the characters. It is a feature which really ought to have appeared before the strip in the first issue, and is utterly useless here.

Warlock really is an abysmal story with which to tease in an SF audience, with its recap highlighting everything which is wrong with the strip:

The High Evolutionary has in the past created a race of animal-men who revolted, and nearly destroyed him! He now lives in a hollow asteroid spaceship with his companion animal-man Sir Raam! Raam has summoned his master to examine a strange cocoon found floating in space...

Why is the High Evolutionary in space? More pertinently, how did he get there?

Actually, I don't care. The awful writing and mediocre art can hardly encourage empathy with any of the characters.

Seeker 3000 continues to plunder Star Trek for everything not nailed down, is one of the most shameless comic strips in Marvel's retinue. The idea of telepaths being marked so that they are easily identified is a brief moment of sense in what is largely a forgettable story.

Paladin boasts some impressive cityscapes, though is mostly a rehash of better material, while Star-Lord stands as the sole strip which does something interesting with its main character - until, that is, it turns into a superhero strip more suited to The Mighty World of Marvel than an SF title. The plot nudges the story into becomming one of the most disappointing strips of the issue, and, given the undistinguished strips which it shares space with, must be seen as quite the accomplishment.

#01

Future Tense

#03

The Daredevils #1

Jan 1983. Cover price 50p.
56 pages. Colour & B&W.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Edited by Bernie Jaye.

Cover by Paul Neary.

Free cover-mounted badge.

Contents:

.2 This Is It, Frantic Ones! advertisement for Hungarian Rings toy.

.3 The Secrets of Daredevil's Billy Club! w: Roger McKenzie; p: Frank Miller, i: Klaus Janson. / Contents / Indicia

r: Daredevil (Marvel Comics) #159 (Jul 1979).

.4 Captain Britain A Rag, A Bone, A Hank of Hair... w: Alan Moore; a: Alan Davis, lettering by Jenny O'Connor.

12 'Inside Comics' "The Importance of Being Frank" text feature by Alan Moore.

18 The Perfect Mailing Company subscription advertisement.

19 Daredevil Marked for Murder w: Roger McKenzie; p: Frank Miller, i: Klaus Janson, lettering by Jim Novak.

r: Daredevil (Marvel Comics) #159 (Jul 1979).

27 Collector's Corner advertisement for The Perfect Mailing Company.

28 Daredevil poster by Garry Leach.

29 Fantasy Fever (half page) in-house advertisement for Starburst. / The Magazine of Motion Pictures (half page) in-house advertisement for Cinema.

30 Garry Leach - Early Artwork illustrations by Garry Leach.

34 Fanzine Reviews by Alan Moore.

42 Bullpen Bulletins (half page) text promo (uncredited). / Earth 33⅓ UNTITLED ["There are days when I hate being a Skrull"] w: Tim Quinn; a: Dicky Howett. / Competition (quarter page) prize of Paul Neary original artwork.

43 Spider-Man "To Die a Hero!" w: Stan Lee; p: John Romita, i: Mike Esposito, lettering by Sam Rosen.

r: partial The Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel Comics) #52 (Sep 1967).

46 News Feature by Frank Plowright.

52 Two More Winter Specials from Marvel (half page) in-house advertisement for The Savage Sword of Conan and Avengers Marvel Treasury. / Have You Heard the News? (half page) in-house advertisement for the Marvel Superheroes and Rampage merger.

53 Comic Mart classifieds.

54 Marvel Classifieds

55 Marvel's Winter Special Explosion! in-house advertisement for Winter Specials.

56 Marvel Sweatshirt Offer! advertisement.

The Daredevils is a small move in the direction of the Marvel magazines (Starburst and Doctor Who Monthly) while retaining the focus on comics. It isn't entirely successful in marrying strips with text pieces, but there is a lot to love within. Paul Neary's cover is rather good, though the heavy blue background tends to make the cover text (including the price) somewhat difficult to discern at a glance.

Also, the circle with "1st Great Issue" is a positioned with all the skill and care of a drunken bull in a china shop. I've never understood why the area beneath the free badges were allowed to go out without something under the gift. It would have been the perfect place to position the text, meaning that the cover didn't look so bare once the badge had been removed - as most younger readers would do this as soon as possible. A cover deprived of any embellishments should be as appealing as one with them intact.

Alan Moore's Captain Britain strip opens with the titular hero dead, which would be a problem if it were not for the fact that, in comics, characters have a remarkable tendency to come back from such inconveniences with regularity. As two figures - a father and daughter - work amid vast machinery to reconstitute Brian Braddock's skeleton from a fragment of thigh-bone, we get to see glimpses of his lonely past; Muscles form on the bare bones, circulatory systems grow, and finally skin appears. His personality forms anew from these snatches of personal history, just as his body grows.

A familiar costume reappears on the still-quiet body, and Brian's spirit is plucked from the Pool of Being to be rejoined with his body. Reappearing in Darkmoor, on the eighth of September, 1982, Captain Britain - unaware of the ministrations made over his lifeless body by the mysterious pair - rejoices at being home, on the right Earth at last. His saviour, revealed to be Merlin, displays an array of appearances - partially channelling Nicol Williamson (with a dash of Ming the Merciless) in one panel - before the tale concludes.

Despite this being the beginning of a new chapter in Captain Britain's life, there are enough ties to the past with which to root future stories firmly within established continuity. It is especially reassuring that everything that has gone before is accepted without revision - this is still (more or less) the guy we've been hanging out with all this time, and the fact that Brian's been brought back to life shouldn't render any victory through his sacrifice meaningless. He still died. What's more, there's worse to come.

Within a very small page-count the story manages to fill in a lot of information, and it really does serve as the perfect jumping-on point. Alan Davis works his magic on visuals, ensuring that things look as good as they read - you can't ask for more. Well... actually, I can. It's far, far too short to feel remotely like we have been properly reacquainted with him after his journey to the other side. Leaving him at the standing stones, celebrating life, feels too easy. It would have been nice to have another page or two, with him working out how to move forward from this point without looking too Tichborne about it.

Come to think of it, would a reconstituted body maintain precise physical blemishes and marks which could identify an individual? An errant birthmark or mole, and the gig would be up. How would one go about explaining how a scar had miraculously disappeared, or that they are now in possession of an outie when they had an innie? How much of his DNA was originally altered by Merlin, and has that been reproduced exactly, or are there further changes made to his physiology which would be shown by intensive medical investigation? So. Many. Questions.

Listen, don't you kids try and talk to me about comics! I've been reading the damn things for the past twenty two years and I'm bitter, jaded and cynical in terminal proportions.

Alan Moore is tremendous value for money. I could read him espouse the relative merits of the pancakes versus waffles debate, and here he is elegant and eloquent in appraising the work of Frank Miller - before he started to use a weird, grotesque, mis-proportioned style. While I'm not convinced that the subject is entirely appropriate to spend so long on, Moore makes it worth reading - a better use of the space taken up here would be with Moore's opinion of the state of British comics in 1983.

We get proof of Frank Miller's skill at handling composition with a reprint of a Daredevil strip, wherein a bounty is placed upon the Man Without Fear's head. A number of film clips are shown of Daredevil in action, and Mr. Pondexter offers those gathered $2000,000 up front, with the remainder of the half million dollars paid upon receipt of Daredevil's corpse or other conclusive proof of his demise. This raises a dilemma for me - how would this other proof be authenticated? Really, all one would need to do is get a Daredevil costume, dress someone in it, then kill them. Nobody (at this point) is aware of his secret identity, after all.

Matt fields questions from reporters about his kidnapping, and Ben Urich contemplates that "there's more to Matt Murdock than meets the eye." Which is probably not intended as a shout-out, but I'm going to go ahead and imagine Ben kicking back and watching Transformers cartoons in his free time. As Matt goes about his business, a number of people observe his activities, reporting back to on events. Eventually any pretense at covert observation is dropped, and Matt and Foggy are accosted by the agents of Eric Slaughter, who demand Daredevil turn up for a meeting on the docks.

What is it with Marvel Comics characters hanging out at the docks?

Daredevil, of course, turns up at the appointed time, and discovers a number of armed men in hiding - waiting for the opportunity to kill the hero. Which ought to be a nerve-wracking moment of high tension, but we know that there is no way Daredevil is going to get killed off. He makes his move, demanding answers, but the men respond by opening fire. Picking off the gunmen one by one, Daredevil manages to get one to talk, but before he can learn who has put out the hit on him his source of information is killed. The man behind the attempt on the hero's life is... Bullseye.

Garry Leach's poster art is superb, and deserves to be published in a high-quality print. Despite having an eye out for this in better quality, I've never seen it reproduced. Subtle and minimalist, the towering buildings looming high behind Daredevil as he leaps into action. It feels as modern an image as it did back in the early eighties. It is accompanied by a page of his younger artwork, which is a revelation - his style improved greatly between the ages of 11 and 16, and makes me want to see the intermediate steps. These "behind the scenes" features are well worth the time to put together, and show the evolution of an artist's ability.

Alan Moore reviews Lew Stringer's Fantasy Express #04, the Martin Lock-era Fantasy Advertiser (#75), and Triple Echo Vol.1 #04 by Steve Roberts in the appropriately named Fanzine Reviews. At a single page, albeit one without cover repros of the zines in question, there isn't much room for elaboration or in-depth examination. It is always appreciated when these titles are highlighted, but such features need to be have enough room to breathe.

High quality content can only take a title so far, thus we must suffer a Spider-Man reprint. The Kingpin places J. Jonah Jameson and Spidey in an inescapable death trap, from which (naturally) they escape. The long-running Spider-Man title (under whatever name it was using that week) was the obvious place to corral his adventures safely away, so placing him in The Daredevils is extremely annoying - they've been reprinted so often that anyone with a fondness for the character would have already been familiar with the story.

News Feature brings all the latest up-to-the-minute news from Stateside about exciting developments such as an ongoing Alpha Flight series, the introduction of the Hobgoblin, Doug Moench leaving Master of Kung-Fu and Moon Knight, and the cancellation of The Brave and the Bold. At two pages (with most of that space taken up with cover repros) this still feels overdone. I'm not sure I like comics publishers promoting comics in general in this way - it would be too easy to promote Marvel titles over those of other publishers, which is why having a distance between publishers and news is always preferable.

A very accomplished issue, despite the inclusion of Spider-Man. An excellent poster is the icing on the cake.

Marvel Madhouse #1

Jun 1981; Cover price 35p.
36 pages. B&W contents.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Cover by Marie Severin.
r: modified and recoloured cover from Not Brand Echh (Marvel Comics) #03 (Oct 1967).

Contents:

.2 Dangerous Visions advertisement.

.3 Welcome to the Marvel Madhouse contents page; illustraton uncredited. / Indicia

.4 Earth 33⅓: The Motion Picture And Lo There Shall Come a Norm! w: Tim Quinn; a: Dicky Howett.

.6 Charlie America The Honest-to-Irving, True-Blue, Top-Secret Original Origin of Charlie America! w: Roy Thomas; a: Tom Sutton, lettered by Gaspar Saladino.

r: Not Brand Echh (Marvel Comics) #03 (Oct 1967).

14 Dangerous Visions advertisement.

15 He's Mighty Sore "The Origin of Sore, Son of Shmodin!" w: Stan Lee; p: Jack Kirby, i: Frank Giacoia, lettering by Artie Simek.

r: Not Brand Echh (Marvel Comics) #03 (Oct 1967).

23 The Inedible Bulk! "The Origin of Brucie Banter ...and Friend" w: Gary Friedrich; a: Marie Severin, lettering by Artie Simek.

r: Not Brand Echh (Marvel Comics) #03 (Oct 1967).

30 From the Depths of the Hyborian Age (half page) in-house advertisement for The Savage Sword of Conan. / Now... in Every issue of Marvel Superheroes (half page) in-house advertisement.

31 Too-Gone Kid "The Fastest Gums in the West!" w: Roy Thomas; a: Marie Severin, lettering by Sam Rosen.

r: Not Brand Echh (Marvel Comics) #01 (Aug 1967).

35 Star Wars Watches for Boys & Girls! advertisement.

36 Missed any Good Magazines Lately? in-house advertisement for Starburst.

There's something inherently appealing about the mockery of superheroes. Unfortunately, the reliance on reprints means that this isn't quite as fresh and exciting as it could have been, with only Earth 33⅓ constituting original content. It is extremely good content, with three whole pages to play with, but is followed by so many reprints that no matter how well-crafted the strip is (it is very funny) there's a lingering suspicion that this issue isn't the best value for money.

Quinn and Howett provide a counterpoint to the solemnity and melodrama which regular strips routinely indulged in. A rocket carrying a baby from the dying planet of Britain hurtles through space towards Earth 33⅓, crashing into the bedroom of the Normans. Under Earth 33⅓'s dense gravity the child found it was weaker than on his homeworld. Adopted and named Norman Norman by the couple, his life was quiet until one night on his twelfth birthday his foster parent were gunned down by a robber.

Not being particular fond of them, their deaths didn't discourage Norman Norman. At the age of fifteen, Norman was attacked by a swarm of radioactive, gamma-ridden bats, leaving him suffering from radio-gamma sickness. And a strong dislike of bats. The ambulance taking him to hospital was then involved in a 300MPH collision. Thankfully modern technology being what it is, the surgeons began to rebuild Norman into something even better than before. Until they found out he was broke.

As far as origin stories go, Private Normal - the not-at-all-super-in-any-way-man - is very expansive, with numerous allusions to Marvel comics, and even the appearance of an issue of Whoopee!. The details (Mount Sinus Hospital, Doc Kildane, a sneaky Superman logo) are amusing, and the speed at which events progress means that there isn't a problem with the lack of a narrative thread. The strip remains as fresh as the day it was published, and almost makes up for the amount of reprints which follows.

The splash page of Charlie America makes a decent point (as all satire should) regarding the number of times origin stories are tackled. Some characters (such as Batman) have had their origin retold so many times that it is difficult to feel any empathy for the character's situation - sure, it's sad losing parents to a robber, but it is unbearably cruel and unusual punishment to be told the same story multiple times.

For reprints from Not Brand Echh, the rest of the strips aren't all that bad, and Marie Severin's work really shines in the format, even if the paper quality is abysmal. It is nice to see the linework without unnecessary colour.

Future Tense #1

Future Tense #1

05 Nov 1980; Cover price 14p.
32 pages. B&W.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Edited by Paul Neary.

Cover by Jim Steranko. r: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel Comics) #06 (Nov 1968).

Contents:

.2 Future Tense Welcome You to its 1st Issue text introduction by Paul Neary.

.3 The Micronauts Child Eyes! w: Bill Mantlo; p: Howard Chaykin, i: Al Milgrom, lettering by Irving Watanabe.

r: Micronauts (Marvel Comics) #18 (Jun 1980).

11 Seeker 3000! The Dying Sun! w: Doug Moench; a: Tom Sutton, lettering by Denise Wohl.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #41 (Apr 1978).

16 The Concise History of the Galaxy In the Beginning Was... w: Tim Quinn; a: Dicky Howett.

17 Paladin In Manhattan, They Play for Keeps w: Don McGregor; a: Tom Sutton, lettering by Gaspar Saladino & Bruce Patterson.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #43 (Aug 1978).

23 Warlock And Men Shall Call Him... Warlock! w: Roy Thomas; p: Gil Kane, i: Dan Adkins, lettering by Sam Rosen.

r: Marvel Premiere (Marvel Comics) #01 (Apr 1972).

27 Star-Lord Windhölme w: Chris Claremont; p: John Byrne, i: Terry Austin, lettering by Tom Orzechowski.

r: Marvel Preview (Marvel Comics) #11 (Summer 1977).

32 Savage Action in-house advertisement.

Nick Fury's cover cameo promised so much. Unfortunately, and annoyingly, he doesn't reappear by way of an explanation for the image. Was it picked because the covers of the comics reprinted were so awful? That is a strong possibility.

It is nice to see Marvel giving a shout-out to John Brosnan's book, which shared a title with Future Tense, in Paul Neary's introduction. It is a shame they didn't manage to snag the rights to reprint small portions of the book in each issue, as attempting to compete with 2000 A.D. with a bunch of reprints was never going to work in the long term. Familiar strips are duly dusted off, checked for suitability, and presented as if nobody had seen them in years.

The presence of Micronauts as the lead strip really doesn't do the issue any favours, and although the printing is better than in the Pocket Books, the strip doesn't have an immediate appeal. It was never clear why people seemed to be of the impression that the characters were popular, but from the various reprints they aren't immediately appealing or interesting enough to sustain interest. Maybe it is a cultural gap which no amount of explaining is ever going to bridge.

It is odd that Paladin receive a place among the more obvious reprints when there was more appropriate material available (Machine Man, Deathlok, or even Iron Man would have been more palatable), and once more it is Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett who come to the rescue of the comic with a full-page strip which raises the issue's interest, and provides real value for money.

Valour #1

05 Nov 1980; Cover price 14p.
32 pages. B&W.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Edited by Paul Neary.

Cover by Jack Kirby. r: UNKNOWN.

Free Devil Dinosaur jigsaw piece.

Contents:

.2 Valour is the Name... (three quarter page) / earth 33 1/3 UNTITLED [Being the Allfather has it's drawbacks] w: Tim Quinn; a: Dicky Howett.

.3 Conan the Barbarian The Devil Has Many Legs! part 1, w: Roy Thomas; p: John Buscema, i, Ernie Chan, lettering by Joe Rosen.

r: Conan the Barbarian (Marvel Comics) #101 (Aug 1979).

.7 Savage Action in-house advertisement.

.8 Devil Dinosaur UNTITLED w:/p: Jack Kirby, i: Mike Royer, lettering by Mike Royer.

r: Devil Dinosaur (Marvel Comics) #01 (Apr 1978).

13 The Bold and the Brave w:/a: Wally Wood, lettering by Sam Rosen.

r: Tower of Shadows (Marvel Comics) #05 (May 1970).

20 Marvel Back-Issue Bonanza advertisement.

21 Starburst in-house advertisement.

22 Dr. Strange A Gathering of Fear w: Roger Stern; a: Tom Sutton, lettering by Irving Watanabe.

r: Doctor Strange (Marvel Comics) #30 (Aug 1978).

26 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in-house advertisement.

27 Tales of... Asgard! UNTITLED w: Stan Lee; p: Jack Kirby, i: George Roussos, lettering by Artie Simek.

r: Journey into Mystery (Marvel Comics) #97 (Oct 1963).

32 Starburst in-house advertisement.

It is frustrating that old Conan strips get dragged out of mothballs once again when so many great, bizarre strips are overlooked, but at a brief four pages it isn't too much of an imposition on Marvel's attempt at a fantasy title. Valour even uses an old Kirby illustration of Devil Dinosaur on the front cover, despite it looking crude when placed alongside 2000 A.D.'s wonderfully detailed Flesh strips.

There's little point in complaining about the focus on reprints, although there is a wonderful comedy strip in the form of earth 33 1/3 to make up for the lack of inspiration on show. Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett's contribution to the UK branch of Marvel is large, and it is impossible to actively dislike the material. Often pricking the pomposity and absurdity of the material they shared pages with, the broad comedy which they brought to the titles made the superheroes palatable.

Despite Wally Wood's inimitable talents, The Bold and the Brave, a portal fantasy which throws in the hokey "was it all a dream" question, is a forgettable sidestep which has been pointlessly retitled with a taunt at DC reprints. Far better is the Doctor Strange strip, which riffs on classic horror and noir elements, though by this point it is clear that the editing of the strips to fit the format is going to result in ridiculously slow developments.

Thoroughly underwhelming, the idea that Valour could compete with IPC and Thomson output is an amusing one. The choice of contents is bizarre, with Conan being the prime offender - how many times could people purchase the same stories without feeling ripped off? The entire enterprise feels like a collection of offcasts which didn't have an obvious place to be reprinted, gathered together in one place where they could be safely ignored.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Marvel UK had no love for Ka-Zar.