Music and Comics: John Lennon's favourite comic - Earwig-Man v Superdinosaur

J. Edward Oliver (JEO) may not be that recognisable a name to many of today's comic book fans but in the 1970’s he was one of the UKs most popular cartoonist who produced an immensely successful weekly cartoon strip that appeared in the UK music paper “Disc” (later the “Record Mirror”). His weekly strip featured many zany characters, but by far the most popular of these was the dinosaur called Fresco Le Raye who JEO put into many satirical and fun situations including the parody strip (below) of the Marvel/DC cross company “Superman v Spider-Man” team up comic book.

So popular was “Fresco” that the character gained a fan club which attracted over 4,000 members each of whom received a sticker, a newsletter, a certificate, and a badge. Members were also allowed to enter regular competitions where they could win prizes, the most famous prize being a plastic warthog.

JEO started his cartooning career in the late 1960’s when he created the “Instant Garbage” comic book which led in 1970, to the music paper “Disc” hiring him as their pop cartoonist. Here he created the strip that would eventually become known simply as “J. Edward Oliver” (originally it was called “E C Ryder” after one of his characters). The strip featured weekly parodies of TV shows, comic characters and film and pop stars of the day. However, of all the people that JEO regularly featured in his weekly strip he was best known for his "obsession" with the actress/model Madeline Smith who he would feature in most of his weekly strips. Following the publication of the "Life and times of the Madeline Smith" page (above) which was wholly devoted to Madeline, she called him to complain about his constant depiction of her in his work. JEO and Madeline Smith eventually came to an agreement that JEO would no longer use her in his weekly strip providing that he could use her phone conversation as part of a final cartoon featuring Ms Smith. She ageed and JEO never again used her in any of his cartoon strips.

Above a copy of the "Disc" pop paper which featured the "J. Edward Oliver" cartoon page which was printed as either a full or half broadsheet sized page.

Above two strips featuring Fresco Le Raye as "Superdinosaur" and JEO's parody of Swamp/Man-Thing. Below a picture of JEO's "muse" Madeline Smith.

Despite the strips many fans (it was John Lennon's favourite strip), it was eventually axed at the end of November 1977 due to an editorial decison which many attributed to the arrival of Punk rock which allegedly made the strip looked "dated". After the J.Edward Oliver strip ended he moved into working in UK humour comics (Buster, Whizzer & Chips etc) where he created many popular children’s characters like “Master Mind,” and “Cliff Hanger”. When the long running “Buster” comic ceased publication at the beginning of 2000, JEO was the last artist left drawing original material. His last work for the comic was the now famous "How It All Ends" page (see below) where many of the comics characters stories are wound up in a single panel joke. Most famously the strip revealed that the real reason Buster never took off his flat cap was because his hair style was the same as the (UK) character “Dennis the Menace”.

Sadly, Jack (as he was known) passed away in 2007 at the age of 64.

Favourite covers: Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. - issue 6 - Jim Steranko

The above issue of "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." issue 6 was published in November 1968 however, it wasn't until 1972 when I first saw this Sternako cover printed in an old US Marvel comic advertising its release. It’s fair to say I was immediately intrigued by the cover art and made it my goal to track down a copy as soon as I could. That task would take me some time!

It wouldn't be until 1983, when Marvel reprinted the Steranko illustrated/written S.H.I.E.L.D. comics in a 2 issues limited series (see covers below) that I eventually obtained a copy of that amazing cover. But like most comic fans I craved a copy of the original comic book and I finally tracked down a reading copy of “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." issue 6 (for only £4!) in a local book stores closing down sale last week (50 years after first seeing the cover in 1972). Although I was pleased to eventually find this issue I was slightly disappointed to see that the story was illustrated by Frank Springer and not Sternako whose last internal artwork and story appeared in issue 5. In the story itself (plotted by Roy Thomas & written by Archie Goodwin) an asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and only Nick Fury can stop it. However, there are alien forces that will stop at nothing to ensure that the asteriod finds it target, planet Earth!

This issue of S.H.I.E.L.D also featured an advert for "Hulk King Size" issue 1 featuring that stunning Hulk cover by Steranko.

Above, the covers to the 2 issue limited "Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." 1983 series featring Steranko's run on the series. Issue 2 cover taken from Marvel Wiki (I can't find my issue!)

Steranko's cover to "Nick Fury Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D" issue 6 has been usued in many comics including the first issue of Marvel UK's "Future Tense" comic (with awful colouring).

Gone but not forgotten: Planet of Vampires issues 1-3 – Atlas comics 1975

The troubles of Atlas/Seaboard periodicals were many and are well documented within comic book circles. However, to many kids at the time who were suddenly confronted by a plethora of new comic book titles that seemed to appear from out of nowhere, Atlas comics were, for a short time at least a total joy to behold. Sadly, many of the Atlas titles turned out to be derivative or downright weird (See my blog on Morlock 2000) and as a result, wholesale creative changes were implemented to almost every title after only 2 issues which exacerbated their already mounting problems. For example, Howard Chaykin's character the Scorpion (probably their best title) started out as a 1930s pulp adventurer, but by issue 3 the character was suddenly rebooted into a poorly designed and standard 1970s superhero title. No Atlas title lasted more than 4 issues but despite this some of their comics had merit such as the above title "Planet of Vampires".

Planet of the Vampires (PoV) issue 1 (Feb 1975) started out with great promise featuring a stunning cover (above) pencilled by Pat Broderick with inks/finishes by the legendary Neal Adams. The first issue, written by Larry Hama recounts the story of 5 astronauts (it says 6 astronauts on the cover but we only ever see 5 people) the crew of the Mars probe Aries VII , who return home on 21 April, 2010 (then 35 years in the future and now almost 13 years in the past – how can that be?!) after a 5-year voyage only to find that they have returned to an Earth very different from the planet they left.

After a successful water landing (above splash page from issue 1) outside of Coney Island, the astronauts (2 married couples and a single older man) are attacked by a group of savages and one of their crew (the older single astronaut) is immediately killed before a floating aircraft appears obliterating the savages to rescue them. The remaining astronaut crew are then taken to a huge dome designed to keep the savages out by a group known as the “Domies”. Of course, the remaining astronauts soon find out that the “Domies” are not the good guys and are mechanised vampires who have set up an industrial scale assembly line to extract bodily fluids from humans to feed on. Freeing what savages they can the 4 astronauts destroy the assembly line.

As noted above the problem with Atlas comics was that they regularly changed the character(s) or the focus of the story after only 1 or 2 issues. In the case of PoV the changes were less drastic than for most Atlas titles with only the original writer Larry Hama (an artist undertaking his first comic script) being replaced by John Albano. This issue titled "Quest for Blood”, featured the remaining 4 astronauts (Craig, Chris, Brenda and Elissa) fighting off a second band of savages and fending off an attack by the “Domies”. The story ends with both of the female astronauts being captured by the “Domies” leaving their husbands vowing to rescue them.

Planet of Vampires issue 2 - Cover by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano. The Dracula character on the cover never appears in the actual comic.

Above: The splash page to issue 2.

With issue 3 (“The Blood Plague”) the cover (above) and art chores are taken on by the wonderful Russ Heath with John Albano remaining as the writer. In the story itself Chris and Craig go back into the dome to rescue their wives. The issue is pretty much just them battling the forces of the dome but it’s a fun romp nicely illustrated by Russ Heath. In the story Craig finds his wife, Brenda, but she has already had her blood harvested and is dead, later he finds and rescues Chris’ wife Elissa, and they make their escape and take refuge in an abandoned zoo. However, they are attacked by giant spiders and Elissa is killed!.

I did enjoy "Planet of Vampires", it wasn’t a classic but it was an exciting title at the time and unlike many US comics Atlas were very well distributed in the UK which was strange as in the US thier distribution was very poor and contributed to the companies failure. The problem with PoV was that they killed off 3 of their main characters in just 3 issues leaving only 2 astronauts to seek revenge on a planet full of vampires. Did they succeed? , well, we will never know as not long after issue 3 was published Atlas/Seaboard closed up shop. However, a 4th issues does seem to have been created as can be seen by the advert and splash page that appeared in issues 3. Atlas comics may not have been a success but they provided a lot of excitment and fun for comic book fans at the time.

Above: The advert for the 4th issues of Planet of Vampires that sadly never appeared.

Favourite covers: Batman - Super Spectacular issue 238 - Neal Adams 9 (DC-8)-

DC 100 page Super- Spectacular comics were coveted items back in the day with their iconic thick spines and large page count (most standard monthly US comics were around 32 pages). Although Super- Spectaculars were mostly (if not entirely) all reprint editions they always contained some great stories and provided readers with their first view of some classic/historic characters.

I first saw the above issue of Batman #238 (cover dated January 1972) by Neal Adams in my local newsagents around April 1972 and was fascinated by some of the characters on the cover. Some I had never seen before like Sargon the Sorcerer and some I had only heard about but had never read any of their stories like Plastic Man and the Doom Patrol. To add to the mix this issue also featured reprints of my favourite team at this time, the Legion of Superheroes. Despite this it was the stunning Neal Adams cover that attracted me to this issue and it has remained one of my all-time favourite covers to this day.

Above: The splash page to (my first) the wildly wonderful Plastic Man tale by Jack Cole

Above: The splash page to the Sargon the Sorceror strip by a young Joe Kubert

Above: The splash page to part 2 of the Legion tale ( a cracker) by John Forte

Above: The splash page to the first of two Batman reprint tales by Win Mortimer

Above: The contents pages to Batman issue 238.