Bring on the Back ups: Alex Nino & Robert Kanigher - Space Voyagers

When it comes to drawing sci-fi, barbarian, fantasy and horror comics few artists can compare to Alex Nino. My first encounter with Nino's work was in the pages of "Adventure Comics" where he drew the Captain Fear back up strip, but it was in the pages of "Rima the Jungle Girl" (stunningly illustrated by Nester Redondo) that I came across one of my favourite of Alex Nino's many back up tales "Space Voyagers". These short 4 or 5 page strips written by Robert Kanigher showcased the talents of Alex Nino perfectly. Sadly "Space Voyagers" only lasted for 5 issues before "Rima the Jungle Girl " was cancelled. Below is my favourite of the series from the last issue of Rima:

Although Nino's page layouts could at times be overly detiled and confusing (but always interesting) on "Space Voyagers" he kept it simple and a joy to look at.

Above the cover to the final issue of "Rima the Jungle Girl" where this tale was taken from.

Bizarre Characters: Arm-Fall-Off Boy

There are weird comic book characters and then there are really stupid comic book characters and Arm-Fall-Off-Boy probably falls into the latter of these two descriptions. Arm-Fall-Off-Boy’s first appearance was in Secret Origins Vol. 2 #46, in December 1989 in a story based on a fan parody, this came as a bit of a surprise to me as in my mind the character was a throwback to the late 1960’s silliness of DC comics. The characters powers are pretty much as you would expect from his name, he can detach his own limbs and use them as weapons – well I did say he is a pretty stupid character.

Above the splash page from the"Sercret Origins" tale that introduced Arm-Fall-Off Boy to an unsuspecting world. The only thing more surprising than a comic character with these powers was the fact that DC hired Superman legend Curt Swan to illustrated this tale.

Despite the silliness of the character, DC did give Floyd Belkin aka Arm-Fall-Off-Boy a second outing in the pages of “The Legion of Superheroes in the 31st Century “(splash page above at header) which featured tales based on the Warner Bros animated cartoon series of the same name.This was actually a really fun comic expertly illustrated by Shawn McManus as can be seen from the opening page above.

Despite the abusurdity of the character Arm Fall-Off Boy has even been used in movies where his name was changed to TDK (The Detachable Kid) played by Nathan Fillion, a member of the Suicide Squad. And in comics in an attempt to make him more believable, the character was reintroduced as Splitter.

Above the cover to "Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century" Despite my misgivings of the character I actually enjoyed both this comic and Secret Origins # 46.

Top Tens: Superhero weddings - Big snakes, Vampires, Zombies & Supervillain's

February is the month of love, so join me in celebrating those romances that appeared in the weird and wonderful world of superhero comic book weddings. Of course love isn't easy and even in our normal world it can sometimes go awry, but thankfuly it is rarely every as manic as can be seen in these covers, incuding the above John Buscema/John Romita classic originally from Avenger #60.

Amazing Spider-Man #131- Cocver by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

Giant-Size Avengers #4 Cover by Gil Kane and John Romita

Tomb of Dracula #47 - by Gene Colon and Tom Palmer

Detectice Comics #407 - Cover by Neal Adams

Batman Family # 1 - Cover by Jim Aparo

Brave and the Bold #197 - Cover by Jim Aparo

Action Comics #484 - Cover by J. Garcia Lopez and Dick Giordano

Legion of Super-Heroes # 200 Cover by Nick Cardy and below, Tales of Terror # 1 (cover originally from Tales of the Zombie # 6) Cover by Earl Norem.

The Spinner Rack - 1973 - Part 4

My final selection of comics from my favourite year,for now. Most of the comics shown here I have repurchased in the last 10 or so years but in many cases I still own my original, albeit tatty issues from over 50 years !!!.

For your information it was the Elongated Man the was the new member that joined the JLA.