The Second Double Life Of Lancelot Strong!

The beautiful cover for Blue Ribbon Comics #5 showcases the great artwork of Jack "King" Kirby, the Shield's co-creator and Rich Buckler, the maestro of Red Circle Comics, the 1980's revival of the MLJ/Archie heroes.

Here's a look at the great poster shot in glorious black and white. Blue Ribbon Comics #5 reprinted in full the debut adventures of Lancelot Strong by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

When the MLJ heroes were revived in the 60's, the Lancelot Strong Shield character was not among them, rather the Golden Age Shield (Joe Higgins) took the helm of the assembled lunatics who passed themselves off as heroes in that wild and wooly run.

But in 1983 when the Direct Sales market boom made it possible for Archie to think about bringing their heroes back, they brought back The Mighty Crusaders and this time both Shields were front and center, despite the inherent confusion of that. There is no connection between the two heroes aside from their names and the patriotic gear they wear, but nonetheless they both got the nod from Rich Buckler.

Again they both show up on the second issue's wraparound action fest cover.

The next month Lancelot Strong, Shield got his own book, so he seemed to be the ascendant Shield for the moment. I really like how they call back to the classic look of the original covers from so many decades before.

Both Shields are on the cover of Mighty Crusaders #3 as well, though neither is looking particularly healthy.

But things start to get rocky as the second issue of Lancelot Strong, Shield is also the final issue, sort of. At least he looks vigorous.

That doesn't impact Mighty Crusaders, at least not yet. The knockout punch Lancelot is getting might be symbolic.

But in the newly dubbed Shield-Steel Sterling comic Lancelot Strong faces his Waterloo and passes from this mortal coil, sacrificing himself in proper heroic fashion. Apparently having two Shields was too confusing after all. Despite a few more adventures in the back pages of the Steel Sterling comic Lancelot's number was mostly up. The Joe Higgins version would get quite the push from Red Circle/Archie after the demise of Lancelot.

But for my money, Lancelot Strong has always been the strongest of all the Shields there have been.

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Doc Savage - The Brand Of The Werewolf!

Today I conclude my review of Marvel's original Doc Savage comics run. Doc Savage #7 begins an adaptation of Kenneth (Lester Dent) Robeson's Brand of the Werewolf. The first part is titled "Brand of the Werewolf" and is written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Ross Andru with Frank Springer on inks. The cover is by Rich Buckler. 

The story begins in Canada as we watch a man seemingly transform into a werewolf, who then attacks a car containing Alex Savage, Doc's uncle and Pat Savage's father. Next, we cut to Doc's skyscraper headquarters, and he is getting a call from Pat telling him of the tragic murder of her father. Doc along with Monk, Ham, and Renny head off to Canada. They end up taking a train on which they meet Senor Corto Ovega, his daughter, and a man named El Rabannos. There is an attack on Doc's train compartment using gas. After rescuing his team, Doc then finds the same gas used in the compartment of the Ovjeas. Then the train comes to an abrubt halt because the tracks are blocked by timber, and the Ovejas and El Rabannos leave the train headed into the woods. Doc has his men follow them while he helps get the train tracks cleared. He quickly is under attack by thugs, but dispatches them quickly. Meanwhile Pat and her Indian servants Tiny and her husband Boatface hear howling. Pat goes to search but returns and finds her servants unconscious. She knows what the attackers wanted, a cube with a strange brand of a werewolf. Boatface sees where this is hidden and soon steals it and takes it into the woods for a clandestine meeting with the Werewolf rejects Boatface's attempts to raise the price and who attacks and kills him. Doc and his men get back together in time to see a mysterious plane leaving a remote hanger, one they'd seen from the train. They find Alex Savage's grave and the body of Boatface along with the peculiar clues of pine bark and a ptarmigan feather. Doc heads out across the trail of the killers but finds the trail stops at a ravine with a single rope across it. He takes a balancing pole and starts across when a sniper shoots him, causing him to fall. 

Doc Savage #8 concludes the story and the series run. The story is titled "Werewolf's Lair!" and is written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Rich Buckler. The inks are by both Tom Palmer and Jack Abel who alternate throughout the story. The cover is another Buckler effort inked by Klaus Janson. 

The story picks up with Doc grabbing the rope across the ravine to save his life but then a second shot sends him falling out of sight. The gunman is quite pleased and goes back to camp to encounter the Werewolf. Pat and Tiny have been captured by the thugs but Pat tries to escape with Tiny. They are recaptured when suddenly Doc appears and battles thier captors. The three head off into the woods while Doc explains to Pat what's been going on and explains how a nearly invisible wire had saved his life at the ravine. The trio encounter the Werewolf but Doc quickly dispatches the "monster" revealing him to be a man in an elaborate costume, but more men arrive and they flee. The trio meet up with Monk, Ham, and Renny at Pat's cabin and suddenly Senorita Cere Oveja shows up. She explains that she and her father are descended from Alfredo Leon, a 17th century pirate called "The Werewolf". He apparently had a treasure that he'd hidden in the region and the cube was the only means to discover it. Doc has him men go and find the cube hidden in a ptarmigan nest as he'd suspected by Boatface. Then quickly it's revealed that the cube unfolds to make a map showing the location of the treasure. Then the Werewolf and his gang return, use gas to capture Doc and the team and take to a mine that held the treasure. Doc wakes up tied and it's revealed that El Rabannos is behind the gang. But Doc and his men had been faking and a fight erupts in which the Werewolf and the gang are subdued including the Ovejos who turn out to be part of the scheme. Doc and his men are just able to save the Ovejos and the treasure before the mine collapse killing the remainder of the gang. The story ends with Pat vowing to join Doc's team and the treasure headed to do good works. The story closes with a quote from Doc's Code and that ends the initial run of Marvel's Doc Savage. 

 It's announced in the letters page of this issue (for the record the letters page is titled "What's Up Doc?") that the series is being cancelled due to poor sales. Apparently, the series was being retooled a bit with Tony Isabella scheduled to continue as the regular writer while apparently Rich Buckler was coming on as the new regular artist. Whatever the case, the last issue is a jumbled affair showing that it was produced with a great deal of speed. It's unfortunate that the series goes out on such a low note. Also, I never knew it, but the original pulp tale doesn't have any werewolf in it at all, but for the more visual comics medium a man in a costume looking much like Jack Russel's Werewolf by Night was thought necessary. I don't disagree, as the lack of any werewolf (real or fake) in the pulp was a disappointment for me. Both the original pulp and the Bantam novel covers even show one, but alas not to be. 

Walter Baumhoffer

James Bama

But Doc Savage wasn't quite done at Marvel. Next up are visits with the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and the Ever Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing!

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Vampire Tales #2 - Blood Sacrifices!

Vampire Tales #2 is dated October 1972 and features a evocative cover by Jose Antonio Domingo which as far as I can tell doesn't relate to any of the stories in the magazine.

The lead story features Morbius the Living Vampire. Written by Don McGregor and drawn by Rich Buckler in a very muscular style with inks by Pablo Marcos, this story shows the tormented nature of Morbius as hunts for victims to slake his bloody thirst while at the same time trying to stop a demonic cult who seek to capture and sacrifice a beautiful and painfully naive young woman named Amanda Saint. Check it out at this groovy link.

"V Is for Vampire" is a one-pager from the editors laying out what is in this issue of Vampire Tales. 

"Witch Hunt" is a terribly effective little four-page offering reprinted from the Atlas days. Mannie Banks is the artist as we learn the terrible secret of a seemingly nice girl.

This one first appeared under the title of "Bewitched" in Journey into Mystery #15.

"A Vampire by Any Other Name - A Look at Lugosi's Non-Dracula Roles" by Dough Moench does just what the title suggests. Movies mentioned are Mark of the Vampire, Return of the Vampire, and Plan 9 From Outer Space among others. 

"Five Claws of Typhon" is a new and rather compelling story by Gardner Fox with some lush artwork by Jesus Blasco. But Blasco must not have been able to complete this epic or the pages were lost as ace bullpen artist John Romita steps in to finish up the last few pages.

"A Generation of Vampires" is part two of Chris Claremont's extended review of The Vampire - His Kith and Kin by Montague Summers. 

And speaking of John Romita (as I was a paragraph ago), he gives us one of his absolute best efforts ever when we finally get to meet the ravishing Satana Hellstrom, the Devil's Daughter. Written by Roy Thomas, this stunningly effective four-pager shows remarkable restraint on the writer's part as the story unfolds. Here are those outstanding pages in their entirety.

Arguably the the best story ever to appear in Marvel's black and white magazines, this four page opus really shows how horror can be done. Magnificent!

And speaking of magnificent next up is a reprint from Marvel's own recent past, the stellar Jim Steranko story "At the Stroke of Midnight".

This story originally appeared in Tower of Shadows #1 under a cover by John Romita. This alas was the story which caused Steranko to depart from Marvel for a time. He vigorously objected to attempted changes in the story by editor Stan Lee.

To wrap up this issue we have another dandy story titled "The Praying Mantis Principle" by Don McGregor and Rich Buckler, this time with inks by Klaus Janson and Carlos Garzon which introduces Hodiah Twist and his partner Jeavons. Twist is a man living through the tragedy of 1930's depression-era New York City and he has in an effort to deal with that retreated into a fantasy of sorts where he is a Sherlock  Holmes like detective and Jeavons is his Watson. They find themselves dealing with a brothel full of vampires in this frothy and very atmospheric yarn.

The Vampire Tales "Feature Page" showcases small reviews of two then-current horror flicks -- The Vault of Horror and the Daughters of Satan. Neither gets a very rosy review.

And with that the second issue of Vampire Tales comes to a close.It was one of the best and much stronger overall than the first issue. The Morbius series gets a real injection of atmosphere and the stellar story debuting Satanna is most excellent as I've said. Hodiah Twist is a fun character, who as far as I can discover only appears one more time.

More to come.

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