[MarkWarner]

So blimey ... looks like we all rather enjoyed last week's romance. Well it certainly got the posts flying anyway.

Now this week is a bit different. The intention was to stick with "standard" U.S comics, but I have 2 separate requests for an Australian or New Zealand book.

So after a bit of thought we are going way out of our comfort zone and reading an Australian landscape printed book. The one "problem" is, it is all one story, so I am not sure how long it will take to read. But heck you have got a week to do it in

The book can be found here https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22898

[crashryan]

Well, that was a fun read! Got off to a slow start, but picked up speed. Both story and art are by Terry Trowell, an Australian comics creator I'd never heard of. However I found an excellent in-depth biography on the Comics Down Under blog:

http://comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/2010/03/profile-terry-trowell-comic-book-artist.html

During WWII Trowell worked in the Australian Army's Intelligence branch. I imagine the story's strong military angle with its rah-rah spirit was inspired by his experiences. Before finding the bio I'd wondered if this were a reprint of an English strip since the story is set in England. However it's 100% Australian. Trowell's writing has some odd quirks, especially the use of the "&" in place of the word "and." It also struck me as odd that characters start a long speech then trail off into "etc. etc."  One more thing: Hugh's buddy Captain Jim Falstaff talks like an American writer's idea of how Englishmen speak. Some of his bally dialogue is so jolly well over the top that I thought Trowell's brain had taken a Burton. The only things Jim didn't say were "eh, wot" and "pip pip!"

Trowell's drawing is quite good. The main characters occasionally seem a bit cartoony for the rest of the art. He draws excellent backgrounds (and nice cars!) and seems to have put considerable effort into researching them.

A theme running through this story is teamwork. There's no doubt Hugh is the hero, but everyone plays a part in overcoming the bad guys. It caught me by surprise that Hugh isn't even present for the big finish--the villains are done in by an anonymous RAF pilot. In the long run, there isn't much reason for Hugh to don a mask. All his detective work he does in mufti, and it wouldn't be hard for someone to add two and two and realize he and the Domino are the same person.

All in all, a fun book. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[SuperScrounge]

Nice looking and entertaining story.

I did wonder why the army was testing this vehicle in an area so open that a gang of crooks could come in and steal it it without any guards, at least, seeing it. (It's called security, Brigadier, have you ever heard of it?)

Carnac not wanting the kerosene to get on the clothes was odd.
1. Wouldn't the kerosene burn first?
2. Wouldn't a body riddled with bullets make the police suspect foul play?

Crash, thanks, I was wondering if all those Britishisms were natural or over the top. Heck, I'm not sure what some of them were supposed to mean, is there an English to American dictionary around? 

Not sure why Hugh bothers with the secret identity as he was very cavalier with it at the end, but maybe it's just this story and others have him be more careful?

Shame the title panel showing him tied to the hood of a car never actually appeared in story.

[Drahken]

...The one "problem" is, it is all one story, so I am not sure how long it will take to read. But heck you have got a week to do it in ..

This is at least the 2nd or 3rd time I've seen you talk about taking a long time to read in these reading group threads. We're talking about comic books here, any comic in the world can easily be read cover to cover within a week. Most (particularly this one, which is only 24 pages) can easily be read within 2 hours at the most, it only took me 20 minutes to read this one.

This whole landscape type comic is new to me. Are all australian comics printed this way? Is the binding on the short end or the long end?
Also, does anyone else find it rather odd that an australian comic is set entirely in england, with all the character apparently being english? Was this perhaps an aus reprint of a british comic?

[Lorendiac]

Carnac not wanting the kerosene to get on the clothes was odd.
1. Wouldn't the kerosene burn first?
2. Wouldn't a body riddled with bullets make the police suspect foul play?

On my first read through the story, I was also scratching my head as I tried to figure out the logic behind his insistence upon not pouring kerosene directly onto the bodies he was planning to burn anyway. I wasn't thinking so much about the bullets, although it's a fair point -- those metal slugs in Sergeant Roach's corpse were bound to be noticed during the eventual autopsy unless the pathologist was blind. (Maybe Carnac was hoping someone would think the two men had killed each other and no third party had been involved?)

Anyway, on the first pass, I was thinking more along these lines:

"Okay, Carnac, so you're smart enough to anticipate that traces of kerosene may well be found by chemical analysis when the smoldering remains of this garage are investigated by the local authorities. But you think the cops won't find anything terribly suspicious about the place having been splashed with kerosene -- as long as none of that kerosene had saturated the clothes of the people you're leaving to burn? Guess what, buddy? My money says that the final verdict would still be 'deliberate arson,' rather than writing it off as a freak accident!" 

Not sure why Hugh bothers with the secret identity as he was very cavalier with it at the end, but maybe it's just this story and others have him be more careful?

I was wondering about that, too. Like you, I know nothing about any of his other published cases, but I've noticed a similar odd pattern in some of the other Golden Age stuff I've read in the last few years -- cases where the hero of the story seems to fit all the following parameters:

1. He lives a double life.

2. In his "secret identity," he is a cop, secret agent, private investigator, or something similar, who has been ordered (or hired on a freelance basis) to take a professional interest in a certain mysterious case.

2. In his "costumed identity," he likewise takes a strong interest in that same case. Sometimes he peeps through windows or asks people questions in one role, and sometimes in the other, during the same investigation.

3. He has no genuine superpowers which he is trying to keep under wraps, meaning that in theory he's capable of doing the same things in either role without blowing his cover. Punching, shooting, interviewing, whatever. (As opposed to the way Clark Kent, for instance, quite understandably feels it would be a bad thing for everybody to realize he had all the powers of "Superman." He'd no longer be able to have a "normal" social life.)

4. So it often becomes very hard for us readers to understand where the hero draws the line between "I'd better pursue this next stage of the investigation as Hugh Standish [or whomever]" and "I'd better pursue this next stage of the investigation as The Grey Domino [or whomever]." Why can't the hero just use one identity all the way through, thereby keeping his life much simpler while (presumably) still learning the same interesting facts and arresting the same bad guys when he has sufficient grounds? Not to mention that this approach would make it much easier to write an accurate report to file with his boss or his client afterwards, if our hero didn't have to edit out half of his own in order to hide the fact that he did that half of the stuff that solved the case while he was wearing a mask?

P.S. Alternately, such a hero could wear his mask 100 percent of the time. Will Eisner's "The Spirit" springs to mind -- he seems to have felt that letting his original identity of "Denny Colt" stay alive would just cramp his style, but I occasionally wondered how much difference it really made since he no longer had any sort of "private life" as Denny Colt anyway, so what was he really hiding? How much good did it do him to wear a mask every minute of the day? Any time he walked down the street in broad daylight, he was wearing the same mask, and thus was a good target for any bad guys with a score to settle.

[Lorendiac]

...The one "problem" is, it is all one story, so I am not sure how long it will take to read. But heck you have got a week to do it in ..

This is at least the 2nd or 3rd time I've seen you talk about taking a long time to read in these reading group threads. We're talking about comic books here, any comic in the world can easily be read cover to cover within a week. Most (particularly this one, which is only 24 pages) can easily be read within 2 hours at the most, it only took me 20 minutes to read this one.

My first reaction to Mark's comment was much the same -- who needs a week to read a regular-sized comic book? (Granted, he did put "problem" in quotes, and add a smiley face, so I don't think he seriously thought any of us were going to be reading just one or two pages a day . . .)

This whole landscape type comic is new to me. Are all australian comics printed this way? Is the binding on the short end or the long end?
Also, does anyone else find it rather odd that an australian comic is set entirely in england, with all the character apparently being english? Was this perhaps an aus reprint of a british comic?

Like you, when I started reading the story, I was wondering: "What is this, a magazine reprint of an entire storyline from some now-obscure British newspaper comic strip which I've never heard of before?"

But when I followed the link provided by crashryan (http://comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/2010/03/profile-terry-trowell-comic-book-artist.html) I learned that no, it wasn't such a reprint, but that probably (if not certainly) was what the target audience in Australia was supposed to think!

A key paragraph in that blog entry says:

It

[bowers]

Crash, thanks for the link and the info on Trowell. This was a fun read- reminded me a bit of an old "Saint" or "Falcon" movie from the forties. Lots of patter and great repartee between Hugh and his sidekicks. Didn't catch all the slang, but most of it wasn't hard to figure out. This story just seemed to take off and didn't stop. Writing was a little odd (etc.), but it didn't interfere much with the story. Trowell's art was easily as good as lots of American stuff from the same period. Good facial expressions and very good backgrounds. I also wondered if this was a reprinted strip, mainly because Trowell signed every page. In a much later issue, he didn't. Have no idea about his mask- for the most part, he only appears to use it when he's sneaking up on somebody, or going to use his pistol. It just didn't bother me that much. Nice choice, hope we get some more like this. Don't forget Free Comic Book Day tomorrow! Cheers, Bowers

[paw broon]

This is a great read.  Comics as they should be done. Pacy, exciting, well drawn, a bit of humour and some close shaves.  Plus, a costumed hero (or masked, in this case).  I can almost smell and feel the comic.  To give some of the other readers an idea, this is all newsprint.  No glossy cover, just rough paper and is typical of most Australian and British comics.  The landscape format is a peculiarly Australian format for English language titles but a format that would have been very familiar to Spanish and Italian comics readers in the '40's and 50's and into the '6o's.
Despite the info. from Comics Down Under, I also thought this was previously a serialised story, collected for a comic but, obviously I'm wrong. 
As for the action, too much to comment on but I particularly enjoyed our page 18 with the lorry sides coming down to reveal the power operated gun turret, and the subsequent chase through London.
The hood is just great and I love that type of mask - see The Hood and El Capitan Misterio, among others.
Last thing, unlike some American creators when they draw British scenes and you realise right away that they haven't done nearly enough research, Trowell gets this aspect bang on.

[misappear]

I

[MarkWarner]

Ok .. I read it, and now also what other blokes of the reading group thought.

I am not sure if you chaps are aware that the HQ where the 'Dragon' is based is right up the very top of England, spit and you are in Scotland. The Grey Domino is currently based down the bottom of the country on the left. Just a matter of 500??? miles or so. Back then, much of it on country lanes, so a hard day's drive, providing you have no mechanical problems.  But they appear to be move up and down at the blink of an eye, also just popping in at Sussex and Oxford.

Anyway, look it's comicbook land and so I have to go along with it. BUT I find this one very especially difficult. I mean ... a foreign power using just ONE souped up tank is going to take out the Bank of England ... meanwhile some  paratroopers are going to land, take over strategic targets and suddenly Britain is now invaded. The fact that for a few years millions of tons of Nazi explosives dropped, plus V1 & V2 rockets and Adolph still couldn't manage what these fellows have planned with an overnight raid and a supertank.

Also it was strange ... an Aussie comic set in England, marketing wise I wonder why. Ah! I have now read your comments. So speculation is it was made to look like a reprint to give it more "gravitas". Funny as I would guess nowadays you'd probably do the opposite.

Also like Bowers I was surprised by Terry Trowell's signature on each page, and I think that he's right. It does make them look like strip reprints. I guess that might well have been the intention.
 
But that is all the negatives. It was certainly a lot better than I though it would be. The art is really good. I didn't miss the color, plus it had a villain with BIG plans who finished every sentence with "Heh! Heh!" which is what they should do! He just needed a big white cat to stroke, or a pool of crocodiles.

And Superscrounge that is a very good point that I totally missed. Why worry about what the cops will make of kerosine when you have a corpse riddled with bullet holes. Lol!

Anyway, verdict an enjoyable read and if there are future requests for more Aussie comics then I say "Count me in old boy! etc etc".

I HAVE NO LIFE UPDATE:
I just did a route finder check between Exeter and Morpeth (each of the counties admin centers) And today by road it is 387 miles Time: 6 hr 35 min, That is now on a good day. So back in 1951/52 I'd suggest "taking a flask and some sandwiches old chap etc etc"

[crashryan]

I have already commented on the book, but in re-reading it I saw a couple of things I'd missed. One is the  back-cover list of the publisher's other titles. Leading the pack is Captain Atom...thanks to Paw Broon we have two of these on site. Is Lone Wolf the Michael Arlen character? An Aussie original or an overseas reprint? And who is Flynn of the FBI? We find several American reprints of various ages...I wonder if Sergeant Pat is the old Radio Patrol strip from the 30s. Some English favorites appear here as well, like Buck Ryan and Garth, but wouldn't Jane be a bit racy for Australian kids? From my reading I've gotten the impression Australia had even stricter comics censorship than we had in the US. I suppose Brenda, Jimpy, and Belinda were girl's and/or humor comics. Does one of our UK/Australian fans know more about these series?

As for the Domino story, that comedy scene with the dykish kennel manager sure came out of left field.

[Captain Audio]

Nice artwork and good story.
Thearmored car looked familar. A very similar vehicle was used by Oak Ridge Nuclear laboratories years ago, minus the turret.
A vehicle very similar was used in the film "Short Circuit". Don't know the origin of those vehicles, perhaps British surplus modified for security uses.

I think the bad guys figured a oil fire would leave nothing but charred bones.
A similar fire here , old warehouse converted to garage and showroom with old oil soaked into the wooden floors, left nothing recognizable of a large antique motorcycle collection. Even the steel roof and wall panels melted and steel beams twisted like pretzels.
Of course the real reason the author wrote it that way was so the Gray Domino could escape the blaze without injury.

[narfstar]

OK old trouts I am onboard with those considering this a good read with good art. I loved that he could just end a balloon with etc... Giving the reader credit to fill in the rest. As usual a late post has everything already said. I did enjoy this.

[paw broon]

crash and anyone else who is curious about those other titles, Sgt. Pat is acomic based on the radio show, but Flynn seems to be an Aus.  original.  And you're right about censorship in Australia, although compared to S. Africa,   well...........
It's odd these other titles shoud turn up as I'm in the process of looking for some of them in my boxes.  I know there is aFlynn; Rhino Beresford; Sgt. Pat and another crime title at least.  There should also be a landscape edition of Garth, but, as I recall, it's in bits.
I will have to do a bit of research on Jane, as, yes, it is racy.  So I'm not sure if it is the same one, perhaps censored?
Going back to the idea that Grey Domino is collected from strips, many of the other titles are from newspaper strips - Garth, Buck Ryan, Jane (if it is the same one), and , of course, Frew's Phantom. We need more info.

[Drusilla lives!]

Well "old fruits," I found this Grey Domino story good, but rather disjointed and somewhat long-winded in places... oddly though, except when needed most... etc... etc... etc.

I suppose this is due to its being a collection of a syndicated newspaper strip.  At least that's what I'm led to assume from the landscape format, panel layout, story pacing... etc... etc... etc.  And the fact that the artist signed every page.

I found the art serviceable and very consistent... a quality job, etc... but nothing to write home about in my opinion (though I feel this is not a reflection of the artist's true ability, but more in keeping with newspaper strip standards). 

As to the story itself... meh, etc.  It would have made more sense to me just to set it in a WWII period with the protagonist/spy ring as Nazis' rather than from some obscure mythical country.  Otherwise all this stuff about a paratrooper led invasion is, as you might say... piffle.  Although with the British isles you never know, you people have a history of such things happening.

Well, either go with that, or just go with the whole "international criminal gang pinches experimental weapon to ACTUALLY rob bank with" story angle.  Just my opinion though.

[paw broon]

Ah, so you're not aware of the number of times Britain has been invaded in the pages of story papers and comics?  Happens all the time.  Mind you, compared to the Purple Invasion of N. America, foiled only by the bravery of Operator 5, we got off lightly in this one. 
This is fiction and rather good imo, don't you know? Eh, wot? Colonials, eh? Not quite the thing.
As for weird weapons for robbing banks, The Black Sapper is a past master at that, so, that's been done. 
And here is The Black Sapper foiling yet another invasion of this green and pleasant land.  O.K chaps?  Jolly good show!

www.victorhornetcomics.co.uk/images/sapper603a.gif

[Drusilla lives!]

...
But when I followed the link provided by crashryan (http://comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/2010/03/profile-terry-trowell-comic-book-artist.html) I learned that no, it wasn't such a reprint, but that probably (if not certainly) was what the target audience in Australia was supposed to think!

A key paragraph in that blog entry says:

It

[Drahken]

I can't say much one way or the other about the story, since this type of story is not my thing. That being said, it was good enough that I didn't turn away after the first couple pages, so.... *shrug*

My favorite part was the last panel on page 8, where the dog seems to be looking at hims when he says "I hope you don't have a cold" and woofs, seemingly saying "idiot!".

[Drahken]

I was just looking around for more info on this comic, and found this: http://comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/2010/03/profile-terry-trowell-comic-book-artist.html

Trowell

[narfstar]

thanks for the info Drahken

[Drusilla lives!]

Yes, thanks Drahken for the full quote.   Mystery solved.

All I'll add is that they should have worked on perfecting Domino in comic book format instead of expending all that effort to put out a mediocre faux comic strip reprint.  That would be, in my humble opinion, the more logical course of action.  But hey, what does logic have anything to do with comic books... right?    

To sum up I guess... as it stands, a good comic book, but a great master forgery of a newspaper comic strip.
   
BTW, glancing at the other (I'm assuming much later) issue available here on CB+, it does seem to make a rather good comic book, and the artwork is indeed very good.  Sad they didn't have confidence in the concept at the outset.

[paw broon]

I'm not sure it was a lack of confidence at the outset.  This landscape format , resembling as it does newspaper strips, is not strange to many comics fans in a number of countries.  So, I have the feeling that in Australia as big sellers such as The Phantom were common in  landscape in the early days, why not sell comics, either original material or reprints of strips, in that same format?  Granted the format changed quite soon to portrait - via those odd calendar formats, some of which we have on CB+ - in Australia, but in Spain, France, Italy and Netherlands (and in many S. American comics) many titles appeared in landscape.  Again you can find piles of them on CB+.
Also, my seeing this comic generated a different feeling (probably) than in many N. American fans.  That feeling was one of familiarity and welcoming to an old friend.  Being used to and comfortable with various different comics formats is a big boon for me and other non N. American fans.  But then, I don't always get the adoration of some of Kirby's work, and telling a story in newspaper strip and in landscape format comics requires a slightly different approach and technique.

[John Kerry]

Hope no one minds me posting this late but I only recently found this site and I just happened to have read this item the other day. I suspect using an English setting for the story was due to two reasons. One the British Army was probably thought to be involved in weapos research. Secondly the UK was also more likely to be invaded by soeone else than Australia. I enjoyed this one actually. Hopefully a few more get added to the site's library.