[MarkWarner]

Last week's Amazing Man was voted a hit by the reading group, and I am guessing this week's book is a "shoe- in" for an easy double.

It is still pretty much hot off the press of one of our very own administrators, Paw Broon (aka Stephen)

So we are are off to England (not very far for me to go) to read Swift Morgan in Atlantis. The book can be found here https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58163 and as it's all one story we are reading the whole book (all 12 pages of it).

[SuperScrounge]

I saw that 3D on the cover and my first thought was three dimensions. 

Isolated for thousands of years and yet Swift & Silver can understand what the Antillans say and can speak back without an accent?

"They'll find a new ruler now and live in peace!"
1. That's overly optimistic.
2. Given that the Antillan soldiers were killing all the Antick men, who's left?

So will anyone know that Atlantis exists? Will they have diplomats sent to the United Nations? So many questions left unanswered.

Otherwise a fun and good-looking read.

[crashryan]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Decent art, fast-moving story. The one thing that really bothers me is the appearance of the Pickering Expedition. I reread the story a couple of times to make sure I didn't miss something. Has Pickering somehow found an entry to the underworld, and he stumbles across Swift in an underground desert? Or does the "long tiring ride" on page 8 somehow take Swift and Zezon's men to the surface, so that the wasteland where he is abandoned is our Sahara Desert? Either way this suggests the Atlanteans have always had easy access to the surface world, which runs contrary to the notion that they're a lost civilization. I think Swift's line, "Strange the desert is so close," is supposed to explain it all but I don't get it.

The art isn't the greatest, but it's good enough. It's obvious when the artist is drawing out of his head and when he has a photo to work from. I find something endearing about King Eraz being a rather ordinary middle-aged guy with a receding hairline.

Ol' Swift is a bit bloodthirsty at first. Runs a guy through, then says, "Next time surrender a little quicker." Cold. The victim's exclamation, "Ooh! Ah! A-a-a-aah!" sounds more like an orgasm than a death rattle. Some of the other Atlanteans say strange things too. I'd think "Ouch!" is a bit of an understatement when Swift Morgan is pasting one on your jaw. My final quibble is that Silver never does anything. She has a couple of chances to pick up a sword but doesn't. Sign of the times, I guess.

[paw broon]

I'm relatively familiar with the character and this issue, having read it when I bought it decades ago and a couple of weeks ago when I unearthed it from a box.  I re-read it last night and I remember what struck me all those years ago.  How did Swift start under the sea, find Atlantis under the earth and then end up staked out in the desert?  Prof. Pickering comes over the horizon in the nick of time.  A bit odd. 
As crash notes, Silver does sfa and I suppose she's there as the glamour.
I was never totally enamoured of the art but still enjoyed the read.  Fast, lots of action, quite exciting and a bit violent for British comics in 1949. But, saying that, the cover/1st. page is dynamic and it almost seems as if the art gets clunkier as the story progresses.
This was published when I was 10 and I vaguely remember seeing Boardman comics in Woolworths, but never bought or read them - I don't think my mother would have approved.
Denis McLoughlin was well known as a paperback cover illustrator.  You can see examples here:-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/42080330@N03/galleries/72157623940377149/
As for 3d, that is the cover price, which for all you non-Brits, is 3 old pence (thruppence) in old money - LSD, before we went to a metric system in the '70's.
No, of course I wasn't 10. I was only born. Senior moment there!

[Morgus]

So, we are talking HOW MUCH in Americano money??

The comic, some how, reminded me of Wally Wood. (Did HE do two tone stuff during his underground days?) The whole thing was nice, but does it make me into a superficial son of a gun if I say I really really miss four colour and a cover?? Good art, and for an action adventure comic of it's time, nice read.

But I want a cover...

[Captain Audio]

"How did Swift start under the sea, find Atlantis under the earth and then end up staked out in the desert"

There are huge underground seas far inland in the middle east and Africa, some under desert country.

Oddly the second largest of these underground seas is not far from my home in Tennessee USA and I never knew it till today.

[paw broon]

Aye, fine Cap, but nowhere in the story that I can find, is there any mention of that huge transition from being well underground to the desert.
Covers, who needs covers?  Actually, there are a fair few examples of British comics where the story starts on the outside, Marvelman being an example.  Colour comics were simply too expensive to do in the main and we were used to a mix of 2 tone, b&w and a wee bit colour. 
I tried to work out what 3d would have been in dollars but I can't remember what the exchange rate was way back then.  But alllowing 5 shillings was roughly a dollar, then 3d could be equal to 5 cents.  With any luck someone else can work it out.

[narfstar]

It was the "cover" that brought this book to my attention when Paw posted it. Fast paced is an uderstatement for this book. It is fast paced to the point of through all else to the wind. It was easy to notice all the problems already mentioned. But I think we will all still enjoy the book. There are times when we just have to be ten years old again. My ten year old self had fun reading the story.

[MarkWarner]

The first "revelation" on this book is how finely done the art is. The second is how many words there are. The whole book might be just 12 pages long, but you certainly get value for money in each and every page!

"You're free men! Now will you help me to find a maiden?"

To which I would have replied: "Sure, boss I'll get straight on it. Might take me a few years though!" 

Oh, dear. Things were so good and really classy. That is until Swift is tied to a desert rock to die, and Professor Pickering happens to drive by: "say there's a man tied to that rock!  ... Gosh it's Swift Morgan!" 

Verdict: A hit! BUT the story slowly got worse and worse. The art does a GREAT job carrying this book. 

BTW my calculations are the same as Paw's 3d would equal 5c

12 pennies to a shilling 20 shillings to a pound ... it was LSD not in the drug but L for pounds s for shilling and d for penny (don't ask me why but PSP wouldn't work something Latin I guess???). So there were 240 pennies to a pound and around that time there were about 4 dollars to a pound. Mind you, as indeed is still the case, you get a LOT more bang for your buck!

[bowers]

Checkin' in late on this one. Had a lot of company over the holiday and not much time to read. Actually, I read this story about two weeks ago, although I think  it was in an annual or compilation.
Serviceable art and a readable story. I also enjoy the novelty of two-tone printing- reminds me of the very few Brit comics I was able to acquire as a lad.
Even with all the plot holes and strange dialog mentioned previously, I quite enjoyed this one. A big thanks to Paw for sharing and I would enjoy more of this type. Cheers, Bowers