Vulcan 13th March 1976

Two strips of note in this issue.

First, a Spider tale i've not read before. And a silly one it is too. A shape changing alien comes to Earth because he enjoys imitating criminals of the past (!). When the Spider tries to stop him, the alien fires "Peril-Bubbles" (!!) which turn the Spider into a giant and his slave (!!!). The Spider disposes of his friends by chucking them and the Helicar into the sea, where they're captured by Mermen Warriors (!!!!). And this issue has the Spider regaining his will, defeating the alien by turning him into a handsome prince charming lookalike (!!!!!). And then goes down to the sea bed to take on the Sea God (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

As i say, silly.

The other strip is Mytek the Mighty. Not a character or strip i really care for, especially with this awful colouring. But thought this idea here is really neat - to round up and detain hostages, he picks up sheds, ties them upside-down round his waist and drops the people in. Brilliant idea.

Vulcan issue 1

As i say, its great to have some classic characters all collected in one comic, even though the colouring is pretty crass.

Looking at the first issue, its kinda odd that they didn't start with the origins of the folk, and in some cases kicked off mid tale:

Mytek The Mighty - The big chap has already been created, run wild and fallen into the ocean before it starts here. And, running at only two pages, the only glimpses you get of the main cover star is a shadow and 3 shots of his hand. Odd.

The Spider - This is more like it - 4 pages of excellent Reg Bunn art, having the Spider grassing up fellow crooks so he can be king of crime.

Saber - King Of The Jungle - wasn't a fan then and not a fan now, so giving it a miss.

The Trigan Empire - Stunning stuff. Don Lawrence needs far, far, FAR more recognition than he's garned so far. Used to have the Hamilyn collection that i stupidly sold years back. While waiting for affordable, easily available collections (which MUST happen sometime surely?), i'll have to settle for snippets like this.

The Steel Claw - Here, Crandell has given up his criminal ways and works for the British Secret Service. Boy, a comic for children where the hero has to strip back the plastic on the cables to fruit machines to get the jolt of electricity needed to make him invisible - that'll never, ever be seen again.

Kelly's Eye - Loved the premise of Kelly's Eye, but thought the character a bit wet. Love the art though. Very Black Max here.

Robot Archie - Again, not a fan. Only liked him in Zenith.

Vulcan - how i loved this comic

I mean, The Steel Claw, Mytek The Mighty, The Spider, Trigan Empire and Kelly Eye all in one comic?

Brilliance!

Ok, the colouring was a bit off but it was still an amazing collection.