[MarkWarner]

So last week's Suspense #3 really stirred up the reading group. I am running a bit late so am about to open the covers and see what I make of it all. But, time and tide wait for no man so onto this week's book.

Last August we read a UK Streamline comic, and it is a bit rough around the edges (to say the least). Well I bumped across this week's choice another Streamline book, Masterman Comic #1 , this looks rather interesting and a lot more polished.

From what I can gather this was written by Bob Monkhouse an English comedian and TV show presenter, with a seemingly endless pile of one-liners including this, the greatest of all time:

"They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian ... They're not laughing now."

The book can be found here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39619. The story we are concentrating on is the first one which starts on the inside cover.

Happy reading!

[The Australian Panther]

Well, obviously based on Captain Marvel. Nice art and a well-written story. Not sure about that cover tho. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.     

[paw broon]

Preceding Marvelman by a couple of years, and given the theory that Masterman might have been designed by Mick Anglo, this character might well have informed Anglo about the direction to take when Miller ran out of Captain Marvel stories to reprint, after the fall of Fawcett.
Art by Joe Colqhoun, more famous for Charley's War and other war strips and none of his early work like this example is even mentioned on Lambiek or other sites.
The dialogue is an odd mix of pukka English and faux American slang - at least to my eyes.
We're well into the story before Bobby has his Billy Batson moment and we're given a version of the serial origin. But I think it's well done. The snake round Ahmed's neck is funny and gruesome, and the second panel on our page 15 looks very dynamic and exciting to me.
Then there is the very satisfying scene with the bullies. Fair cheered me up the first time I read the story.

[cornettes-racket]

Astounding that this was written by Bob Monkhouse. You're actually underselling him a bit, not only was he an excellent comedian, but from the late sixties through the late nineties he was a perennial figure on British TV, a household name, and a 'National Treasure'. For an American comparison he hosted, although he was more famous for other shows, our versions of Family Feud and Hollywood Squares.

I've never read any Captain Marvel so I'd not actually come across this kind of superhero before. The idea of a boy not just turning into a super-powered version of themselves but into a super-powered adult feels a little bit disturbing! That the Dad is too busy being humbly deferential to how amazing his son now is to acknowledge the fact that his son aged ten years in a matter of seconds and now looks completely different is hilariously bad writing, "Gosh son!"

I read that Monkhouse also wrote for Beano and Dandy, which I imagine would have suited his style very well. He should have stuck with them.

[Morgus]

If you have to have Captain Marvel knock offs, they might as well look like this. Art good enough that I didn't care it wasn't colored. Story moved along nicely. By the way, cornettes-racket, there is a Captain Marvel serial that is worth your tracking down...good action.

[MarkWarner]

I think Monkhouse was appreciated more after he died ... he became a national treasure afterwards if you know what I mean. I grew up with him "Bernie the Bolt".

[SuperScrounge]

The Mighty Masterman! - Cute, not much in the originality department, but otherwise a light-hearted, readable effort.

Space Patrol - Eh, it had it's moments, but the sudden change in the king's decision at the end just came out of nowhere.

Rattler Matt - Funny. 

[K1ngcat]

Total respect for Bob Monkhouse, it's a shame his great talent for smart-ass one-liners was wasted in endless game shows.  Still, a man's got to eat...

The comic's an amusing Captain Marvel rip-off, though Mick Anglo's Marvelman and King-Ganteaume's Electroman remain my favourites.   The story itself isn't too bad, the artwork's acceptable but I feel it lacks the dynamic required for super-heroics.

The most enjoyable part of the tale is young Bobby trying to hypnotise the snake, "Nice boy Osiris, here kitty kitty.." Priceless!

[paw broon]

cornettes-racket, as Morgus says, the Captain Marvel movie serial is well worth checking out, but then, I'm a fan of movie serials and Cap is one of the best.  Just remembered, it's available on youtube here:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bItmKww9aWw
If that tickles your fancy, we have links to a number of old serials, incl. The Phantom Empire, Undersea Kingdom, The Phantom, both Green Hornet serials and more:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2949
Here's a BBC piece with Monkhouse talking about Radio Fun:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/radiofun.shtml
There aren't many boy into adult superheroes around but in British comics there were a few characters who changed into completely different superheroes, i.e. without doing the Superman/Batman thing of simply taking off their clothes revealing the super suit underneath.  Captain Conquest, a little known superhero who appeared in Knockout Fun, whispered the word of power, "Kagaran", and became Captain Conquest.  You can read a story here:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39639
The Phantom Viking in Lion did a sort of Thor thing, where donning an ancient viking helmet changed him into The Phantom Viking via the power of his ancestors.
Another Mick Anglo hero was Captain Miracle, virtually a copy of Marvelman.  Young lad shouts El Karim and changes form and size.
Anglo also had Captain Universe.  Yet another magic word, GALAP, short for stuff.  But the human is a young adult here.
A complete rip-off of Captain Marvel was Mr. Apollo and that is a kid turning into a super powered adult.
As K1ngcat mentions, there is Electroman.
Perhaps the best known was Thunderbolt Jaxon.  Classic young lad becoming adult superhero. We have some stories here:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2046
By the way, Monkhouse was also a film star.

[cornettes-racket]

@Mark
Yeah that prostate campaign was something. But it got people talking and was memorable, so I'm sure they're happy to call it a success.

There aren't many boy into adult superheroes around but in British comics[...]

I know I said I hadn't come across this before but I'm completely wrong, I have, and a British creation at that, only it played the transformation as an absurd gag: Bananaman! The animated TV series was a childhood favourite.

Thanks for the recommendations on serials, I haven't seen a lot but a big fan of what I've seen, definitely putting that Captain Marvel on my to-watch list. The serials directed by Louis Feuillade, like Fantomas and Les Vampires, are just amazing, and his 1917 Judex, a kind of proto-Batman - rich guy with a tech-filled cave and a mild disguise fights crime aided by a whipsmart boy orphan, I wouldn't hesitate to call a masterpiece.

[narfstar]

I think the art had a Bob Montana type of look. Lots of fun even if a CM rip-off I really enjoy it

[K1ngcat]

Oh, well done paw, thanks for reminding me about Captain Miracle and El-Karim.  If I recall, they were previously-printed Marvelman stories where the art and dialogue had been altered to acommodate the new hero's name.   Nice artwork on Captain Conquest, thanks for the link, I'd forgotten CB+ had that, Oh dear, approaching senility again....

[paw broon]

Happy to help, as they say in Asda.   Bang on about Captain Miracle.
That is the only Captain Conquest strip I've ever seen.  No clue in the British guide as to whether there were others. Can anyone shed any light?  There only appear to be 4 or 5 Knockout Fun Annuals scanned and he's not in them. As far as I can see, he isn't in the weeklies that have been scanned for 1952.

[SuperScrounge]

The GCD entry for this is https://www.comics.org/issue/1022957/

[crashryan]

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. Though it's an obvious Captain Marvel knock-off, there are enough quirky bits to make it likeable. Most notably, everyone knows Bobby Fletcher turns into Masterman. The scene in which Bobby becomes Masterman in front of his tormentors is pure schoolboy wish-fulfillment of the sort denied the Marvel Family, who had secret identities to protect. However this situation would create endless complications in real life. Parents would think twice before giving an order to a child who could knock them halfway across the universe. "Gosh, son, you sure have changed all of a sudden!"

The art isn't the greatest but it's better than many similar postwar English comics. It drives me nuts how often the pointers of the dialogue balloons cross. A pet peeve of mine. The story is entertaining. Its moments of silliness appeal to me: Bobby putting the snake to sleep; Masterman winding it around Ahmed's neck.

As for "Jed Gorton of the 'C.P.A.'"...any strip with giant alien penguins automatically gains a few points from me. On the other hand the story is unnecessarily complicated. Particularly the bit about the explorers having vanished 300 years ago. It adds nothing to the plot and creates annoying contradictions. Overall it's par for a 50s s-f comic. The "pike-studded walls" of the arena sorta came out of left field, though.

The American reprint "Rattler Matt" is by far the oddest story in the book. The "decent folk" in town merrily murder Matt in cold blood. We're told that Matt's death is justified because he's killed many people. However all we see him do is bully people and shove them around. Even if he is a killer, the extra-judicial killing doesn't jibe with the codes of law and justice usually preached by "decent folk" in Western comics. 

[Captain Audio]

Interesting art work.

Much of it reminds me of 1960's underground commix parodies of super heroes.

[Morgus]

Captain Audio, you're right, and it was just the idea that was in the back of my mind but out of reach.
Hey, Crashryan, some nut was in the news today when he tried to KISS a rattlesnake...ranks up there in my mind with trying to put paper on their heads...by the way cornettes-racket...two serials you can link from this site you might not initially check out because they are not really comic related...THE LOST CITY and PHANTOM CREEPS...Can't speak for Pawboon, but I was of that special age where t.v. stations would take a public domain serial, stick it with a wad of commericals and create a low cost 12-13 series for themselves. THE LOST CITY is just plain berserk. Start with beloved Gabby Hayes as a slave trader. The special lighting effects are from Kenneth Stickfadden. The villain takes black people and makes them into albino giant zombies with new names like "Pierre".
You won't believe you eyes. I have never seen anything like it.
PHANTOM CREEPS has Bela Lugosi as the villain. He has a robot that looks like the robot from Lost in Space combo plattered with an angry tikki God. This one changed my life because I was rooting for Bela. Week after week, no matter how bad the setbacks, he kept coming back. I was picked on a lot in school and he made me keep on keeping on. I figured if he could keep crawling out from the wreckage, so could I. And it worked. I worked out, jogged, made the wrestling team, stood up for the other guys getting picked on, and CONTINUTED to dance with the black girls and Jewish girls at our school dances. (One of the reasons I was singled out by mouth breathers to begin with.) But I'll tell you the truth. I also wanted one of those damn tikki god robots. You can't have it all!
The hero of PHANTOM CREEPS is the same guy who did DICK TRACY. He and Bela also matched wits in S.O.S. COASTGUARD, a pretty good serial in it's own right. You are never sure who is going to kill Bela first, the hero, or his hacked off henchmen!

[paw broon]

Well, Morgus, you're absolutely right about The Lost City.
Apart from The Phantom,  my favourite serial is The Phantom Empire.  Gene Autry, lost civilisation, robots, thunder riders, death chambers, Queen Tika,  what more could you want?
I saw this way back (late '50's) at the Sat.  morning club at the long gone, Pavilion Cinema in Airdrie. 

[The Australian Panther]

Re this quote,

"They laughed when I said I was going to be a comedian ... They're not laughing now."

Jimmy Durante in a WW2 Movie ( nam eo f which I forget) played a famous comedian who was asked to come out of retirement.
His Reaction? ' No. When I try to be funny, people only laugh at me.' 

[MarkWarner]

I eventually manged to make some time to read this and am really glad I did so.

The art throughout the book was great. The dialogue in the title story was strange, as it was clearly British, but with Americanisms ("mom") thrown in. I see Paw picked up on this as well.

How very British, the "Jed Gorton of the CPA" story includes a "scientific" diagram to help explain the inner workings of the planet. Story was plodding along OK and then suddenly Giant Penguins appeared ... whilst still scratching my head "The Dreaded Dragon of Doon" was slain prompting an extremely abrupt ending,

"Rattler Matt" was really rather weird. Almost Victorian black humour, the way he jokingly get shot.

Verdict: A hit. It scores a AWK! (the noise you make when a cobra wraps itself around your neck), a WURUMP! (a dynamite  explosion) and BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM (gun fire)