Janus Stark in colour

Just come across this, and what an unusual treat it is - a nice self contained story in full colour.
Normally, that'd be a ghastly notion, not suiting the Victorian setting or the character at all, but it works here in that Janus is far removed from the sooty streets of London and is instead employed to brave the traps of an Eygptian Pyramid to retrieve a piece of treasure, predating Raiders Of The Lost Ark by a good 6 years. The thing that doesn't work is the strange decision to colour in some of the speech bubbles too, which is horrible and really detracts from the art.
Speaking of art, i'm unsure who actually did it. The above splash page screams Ian Kennedy, but the close-up has me doubting. But the figure directly below looks like classic Kennedy. So i'm going with him.

Whoever it was, also did the Raven Of The Wing exactly the same.

I'm guessing both were done in colour as they were for the 1973 Valiant annual, a much more colourful title than its weekly brother.

Also in this copy is the resolution to a Kelly's Eye story i've featured here before, where he's up against the dread vampire, Count Varga. Except he's not. In true Scooby Doo style, he's revealed to be the lowly manservant all along and the terrifying giant bats turn out to be helicopter-like craft. Operated by midgets. Brilliant stuff with brilliant art by Lopez.

Why another Blog. An introduction.

To answer that is to delve back to my childhood.
The family maintain i could read before i started school, and it was mainly on DC comics, especially Batman. Don't have any recollection of that - aside from one issue, which i'll come to in due course - but what i have plenty of recollections of are the comics i was reading in the late 60's right up to adulthood (?) in the late 70's.

British Boys Comics.

Yup, every one i could get me grubby mitts on i devoured (except, for some reason i can't fathom, Hotspur). The beauty of them was the diverse range of subjects on offer. If it wasn't a war comic like Battle and Warlord or action like, er, Action, each title would have drama (read and loved), comedy (ditto if it was Leo Baxendale or Ken Reid), mystery (ditto) and sport (avoided like the plague).

A large part of the appeal were the often outlandish set-ups and characters, but mainly it was the fantastic art on offer, with some of the moodiest and downright scary black and white work ever. The love of this style resonates now - to me, British comics should be b/w and never colour.

So, the point of this Blog. With the likes of the Albion mini series and many classic characters turning up in the excellent Jack Staff, i figured there'd be plenty of the sites on the Net springing up to showcase this brilliant back catalogue.
Aside from a couple of nifty sites (which i'll get to in due course), that hasn't really happened.
Feeling an urge to set down what i think of this alternative Britain, i've gone ahead an created this here Blog.

What you're gonna (always "gonna" from now on - we're in the 70's see?) get are my thoughts on my favourite characters and titles. Its a one sided fanboy view, a love letter to 1968 - 1978.

E