Reprint This! 12. The Stainless Steel Rat

UPDATE: Rebellion has released a complete collection of this series in a single-volume paperback.

Reprint This! is a periodic feature where I talk about some out-of-print comic book gems that are not available in collected form for readers to enjoy. This is hoping to let rights owners know that, yes, readers are out here, and we'd like to buy the things we can't get at this time!

Despite such an enormous variety of books available these days, and genuine efforts to present the material in reasonably-priced, archival volumes, there are still countless fabulous series from the US, Britain and Japan which are overdue for new editions. I've selected two dozen titles which should be on bookshelves, but at this time are not.

Since Carlos Ezquerra is among my favorite artists, he's pretty high on the list of creators whose work I'd like to see collected. The editors of 2000 AD had given one of his best-known strips, Strontium Dog, a short rest in 1980 and found a fabulous new project for him to tackle, a comic adaptation of Harry Harrison's novels about the galactic conman called THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT.



The Stainless Steel Rat is the nickname given to "Slippery" Jim diGriz, a ne'er-do-well who started his criminal career with a lengthy prison sentence. Jim figured that getting in the slammer would get him access to all the great criminal masterminds and from them he could learn the tricks of the trade, forgetting, as a novice might, that the best bad guys don't actually get caught. Things improved for Slippery Jim after that and he began a legendary career in safecracking, burglary and confidence tricks, attracting the attention of the galactic police. Much to Jim's surprise, they didn't want to arrest him; they wanted to conscript him...

The comic adaptation of The Stainless Steel Rat was a big hit for 2000 AD in the early 1980s. Three of the novels were adapted, each in twelve parts of about six pages each, by Kelvin Gosnell and Ezquerra. The first two are each incredibly entertaining, but the third, The Stainless Steel Rat for President, is utterly wonderful. Harrison wrote the book as a savage satire on Central American politics, and sees Slippery Jim and his growing family deciding to take on an aging, despotic, president-for-life in a delightful game of dirty politics.

The Stainless Steel Rat was only reprinted once, in a six-issue miniseries for the US market, with the pages resized and colorized. The copyright on the scripts and artwork belong to Rebellion, the company that now owns 2000 AD, but the speculaton is that it can't be reprinted without the permission of Harry Harrison, who owns the characters and the storylines. Still, he seemed taken with the adaptations when it originally ran, and a collection, which would run to just over 200 pages, would be a treat for both Harrison's fans and 2000 AD readers. It wouldn't hurt to ask Harrison, so how about it, Rebellion?



This has got me in an Ezquerra frame of mind. I wonder what I can come up with for the next installment...



(Originally posted September 28, 2007, 10:26 at hipsterdad's livejournal.)

Update Dec. 6 2009: An Amazon listing for a collected edition is revealed.

Reprint This! 11. Jungle Emperor

Reprint This! is a periodic feature where I talk about some out-of-print comic book gems that are not available in collected form for readers to enjoy. This is hoping to let rights owners know that, yes, readers are out here, and we'd like to buy the things we can't get at this time!

Despite such an enormous variety of books available these days, and genuine efforts to present the material in reasonably-priced, archival volumes, there are still countless fabulous series from the US, Britain and Japan which are overdue for new editions. I've selected two dozen titles which should be on bookshelves, but at this time are not.

One title that's probably more overdue than any other is JUNGLE EMPEROR, one of Osamu Tezuka's earliest comics. It ran in the pages of Manga Shonen from 1950-54. A decade later, Tezuka's company produced a television adaptation, Japan's first color animated series. The show, distributed in America by Fred Ladd's company and retitled Kimba the White Lion, was a worldwide success and has prompted several sequel series, films and remakes, but, bizarrely, the original comic has never been collected in English.



Jungle Emperor is the story of a lion named Leo, who is briefly raised by humans and whose father created a safe haven for all animals in the jungle. The cub Leo wants to expand the territory to embrace human culture as well, and wishes for peace for all creatures. Naturally, he finds opposition, both from other animals who challenge his claim to the region, and from humans who bring their squabbles into his kingdom.

I certainly know less about Jungle Emperor than anything else on the Reprint This! list, since I've only flipped through copies of Japanese editions of the comics. I'm more familiar with the TV series, both the original but more so the second series, which was shown on the old CBN network in the 1980s under the name Leo the Lion. It's a truly excellent series, full of heart and optimism. The action and the comedy bits also work very well, but Tezuka's hope for a peaceful world shines in every reflective moment.

Anyway, in Japan, Jungle Emperor was a massive success and has been reprinted many times over the last fifty years, but no American company has licensed the rights to the comics. This is uninformed speculation, but I think that an American publisher like Viz would like to cross-promote any comic series that did appear with the cartoon series, which is already available via a small video company called The Right Stuf. Anyway, while we're holding out for Viz to give Tezuka's Black Jack another try, perhaps Dark Horse, who have published several volumes of Astro Boy, might like to give this one another look. Alternately, Vertical has published several other Tezuka volumes in the US, including Buddha, Apollo's Song and Ode to Kirihito. I think it's a winner in the right hands, so I hope somebody takes a chance on it.

(And while I'm thinking about it, I'd also like to see English editions of Ambassador Magma and Wonder 3, now, please.)



Special thanks to Dave Merrill for sending me these wonderful scans. Most appreciated!



(Originally posted September 18, 2007, 06:00 at hipsterdad's livejournal.)

(edited to add: Publisher's Weekly had already interviewed Ioannis Mentzas of Vertical about Tezuka's work, and this series was mentioned, before this article appeared. Click to visit.)

Reprint This! 10. Johnny Red

UPDATE: The first 75 or so episodes of Johnny Red have been reprinted in 3 hardcover volumes by Titan, released in 2011-13. Go, buy 'em all!

Reprint This! is a periodic feature where I talk about some out-of-print comic book gems that are not available in collected form for readers to enjoy. This is hoping to let rights owners know that, yes, readers are out here, and we'd like to buy the things we can't get at this time!

Despite such an enormous variety of books available these days, and genuine efforts to present the material in reasonably-priced, archival volumes, there are still countless fabulous series from the US, Britain and Japan which are overdue for new editions. I've selected two dozen titles which should be on bookshelves, but at this time are not.

One title that's been missing in action for years is JOHNNY RED, a World War Two thriller created by Tom Tully and the late Joe Colquhoun. It ran in the pages of Battle Picture Weekly from 1977-87, with other artists including John Cooper and Carlos Pino. This was one of Battle's best-loved series, an exciting rollercoaster of a comic that's as unpredictable as it is inventive and fun to read.



Johnny Red has a great premise. It's about a pilot who's been busted out of the service for striking an officer and, lacking any other prospects during the war, is scrubbing decks on a merchant ship in the Barents Sea. He steals the ship's Hurricane after the pilot bites it in a German attack and fights off the Nazi airmen, but feels he doesn't have any option but to land the plane in Russia after his ship goes down.

In Siberia, he joins a squadron of bedraggled, demoralized frontliners who are barely surviving after the Germans have cut most of their supply lines. But Johnny faces awkward questions from the Russian intelligence who want to know exactly what it is that he's doing there at all...

Johnny Red was an immediate hit with Battle's readers, and it racked up something like 500 three-page episodes over the course of its run, appearing in almost every issue for a decade and finally ending when an ailing Battle merged with Eagle and it was decided to save money by running reprints. The first two years were drawn by the great Joe Colquhoun. After 96 episodes, Colquhoun was moved to a new feature, Charley's War, and John Cooper took over. Cooper was better known for several earlier strips about lone wolf, tough-guy spies, but really raised his game to follow in Colquhoun's shoes. This was a pretty shrewd move on Battle's part, splitting the successful team the way they did, but it was to both series' benefit.

Incidentally, the images you see here were cropped from the quite nice scans available at Falcon Squadron, a Johnny Red fan site where readers can enjoy the first four years of the strip. This is the next best thing to a bookshelf reprint, although no real substitute. It's been speculated that the fans at Spitfire Comics have considered licensing the rights, and other people have held out hope that Titan, who've brought us the excellent series of Charley's War books, among others, might try out a nice hardcover collection one day. I think it's a winner in the right hands, so how about it, Titan?



(Originally posted September 07, 2007, 08:01 at hipsterdad's livejournal.)

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Edited to add: (3/1/08) Titan has announced that they have acquired reprint rights to more of the Battle material, specifically noting Johnny Red, Major Eazy and Rat Pack as among the strips which will be reappearing soon. The major new reprint series will begin with the long-running soccer strip Roy of the Rovers as the spearhead, and also incorporate material from the comics Action, Buster, Tammy and, possibly most excitingly, Misty! Here's the announcement, from Down the Tubes. More details as they become available!