Hexagon Comics: Jed Puma

 

JED PUMA CLASSIC; cover by Alfredo Macall

7x10 squarebound trade paperback,

104  p.

b&w

ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-478-8. US$14.95

https://www.hexagoncomics.com/shop-jed-puma-classic.html

 

Contents:

- Foreword by J.-M. & Randy Lofficier

- JED PUMA CLASSIC #1: The Deer Skin; art by Carlo Cedroni

- ROXY CLASSIC #1: The Old Sheriff; art by Mario Cubbino

English adaptation by J.-M. & Randy Lofficier.

Thanks to our “Classics” reprint program, it is now possible to discover the first adventures of Hexagon's “silver age” characters who inspired new versions of these heroes.

This issue features:

* Jed Puma by Italian artist Carlo Cedroni, a western hero created in 1965 who never carried weapons and used only martial arts, a character remarkably ahead of his time.

* Roxy by Italian artist Mario Cubbino, another western hero also created in 1965, the story of a young man seeking revenge on his father's killers.

Fans of Westerns shoul;d love this. If you were or areinto martial arts comics then this one has you covered. There's humour of course and it's nice to see Jed and (can I call him a side-kick or partner?) Tashi acting as equals. There were times I was reminded of TVs Kung Fu series and a Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer movie -which isn't bad!

Nice clean art and the bad guys are bad guys and they get their just desserts in the end.

Roxy can be described as a vengeance Western starrring a boy, his horse and a puma! Jed Puma is well drawn and I liked it but I think Roxy just about has the edge here. Nice slick black and white art and a story that is not as lame as it might sound at first -it was actually far better than I expected but after the first few pages introducing the character it picks up.

Again, unless you have been collecting and reading French comics these characters will mean nothing to you so this is your chance to learn more.  

I have to admit that I had heard of Jed Puma before (over the years I got confused and kept thinking he was called "Joe Puma"!) way back when I was in the old Bristol Book Centre in Gloucester Road, Bristol. You could buy all sorts of pulps and even comics in there -run by an American woman who had been an opera singer-  and I was looking through some Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu books and a French man who was looking for Doc Savage pulps started a conversationwhich led to him seeing I had some Archie Comics and he told me how one of his comic favourites was Jed Puma. How he described it seemed a tad weird but when I found the Cool French Comics web page I got to see what the character looked like.

As I noted in my review of Freeshooters, this type of collection both introduces characters to a new audience while keeping comics history alive.  A book for a good fun read.

Hexagon Comics: The Freeshooters Classic

 

THE FREESHOOTERS CLASSIC; cover by Luca Pozza

7x10 squarebound trade paperback,

124 p.

b&w

ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-492-4; US$15.95

https://www.hexagoncomics.com/forthcoming-books-the-freeshooters-classic.html

Contents:

- Foreword by J.-M. & Randy Lofficier

- ANDREIOS: The Lion of the Thermopylae; art by Franco Oneta

- LAM LIGHTNING: The Ten Masks; art by Stelio Fenzo

- LONE BARDO: The Adventure Begins; art by Carlo Cedroni

In our recently published Strangers No. 15, we introduced a new group of characters, The Freeshooters, four heroes pulled from various periods of Earth’s history. They consisted of Ivan Karine, Lone Bardo, Andreios and Lana Lightning.

Thanks to our “Classics” reprint series, you are now able to discover a sample of the original stories that featured these characters.

* Lone Bardo is a character inspired by Phileas Fogg, the star of Jules Verne’s classic Around the World in Eighty Days. It was created in 1958 by Carlo Cedroni, the author of Jed Puma.

* Andreios is a Greek warrior circa 480 BC, the date of the famous battle at the Thermopylae between Greeks and Persians, depicted in Frank Miller’s celebrated graphic novel, 300. Andreios was created in 1967 by Franco Oneta, better known as the artist on Zembla.

* Finally, Lightning Lam is a western graphic novel by Stelio Fenzo that originally appeared in 1968. The story takes place in the South just after the Civil War and follows the adventures of recently demobilized Confederate Captain Robert Lamm.

 You can always tell you are in for an old school adventure when the character has his revolver grip attached to a lanyard. Ahhh, the waft of nostalgia! 

This adventure begins with our hero martial arts training and an interruption that leads he nd his manservant James on to a new adventure. I love how, on getting to India, the pair take to pennyfarthing bicycles to get around LOL! ah, the 1880s and the English abroad. It is a very nice, clean art style from Cedroni and quite an enjoyable romp -I hope part 2 is on the table ready to print!

Oneta's art on Andreios is also nice and clean. All seems to be as accurate as you can get when it comes to buildings, clothing and unlike one artist who drew ancient Greeks on saddled horses, the ones accurately depicted in this story are not. Do I tend to boringly keep referring to historical stuff in reviews?  That's age and reading a lot for you.

Lightning Lam I was reading through and something kept niggling my brain about the Fenzo art and I think it's because it was reminding me of someone else. I believe Mike Ploog art although a couple times there was a hint of Eisner. It's a nicely paced Western and we get few of those these days.

All-in-all this is a very nice Classic collection and so many old characters and comics are lost to us because no one really cares if it isn't Marvel, DC or Image and it's black and white. 

It is a very good collection for comic enthusiasts who might collect the odd French comic because they like the style but cannot read French as these are obviously all translated to English. I know there are comic collectors that will buy a specific genre -Victorian or Edwardian world travelling adventurers such as Lone Bardo.  Others will collect comics set in ancient times and until tal;king to one I never realised that it was such a big collection interest (I was told to never call it a "craze" ). And we have the Western and that genre is a huge one for collectors.

So this book covers three collector types but what it does, more importantly (maybe only for comic historians?), is it preserves the history of comics from France that appeal to any comic reader but which would otherwise be forgotten.  This collection is fun and full of adventure and action and well worth making part of your collection.

Kult Creations: The Sisters Three: Gravesmoor

 

 A 44 page, 

black and white, 

American comic-sized, square-bound graphic novel 

Order via the Kult Creations page https://kultcreations.blogspot.com/

writer John A. Short and artist David Hitchcock 

 Telling the folk horror tale of three witches in the seventeenth century. A strange and terrible ancient creature stalks the countryside outside the village of Gravesmoor in England... Can Becca Nox, Elsbeth Crowe and Isabella Goodacre discover a weakness in a monster that can't die - while avoiding the clutches of arch-witch-finder Abraham King? A tale not for the faint of heart. 

I think that I have already stated that Hitchkock's style is very suited for horror -his art on the Nosferatu series in Shockwave for one.  Well, this book arrived todayand I needed cheering up so... I read it (I CAN read I don't just look at pretty pictures. All the time).

Anyone visiting this blog regularly should know that I am a big horror fan and sci-fi-horror. One thing I love is the prelude of a dying or injured man and the "you...have to...stop it...millions will die!" and then the person dies. The TV series The New Avengers used that trope more than once. In this case we have a shocked Parliamentarian soldier (a "Roundhead" fighting against Royalists during the English Civil War) whose comrades have all been killed after being confronted by a mysterious force -even musket-shot did not stop it. His words say it all:

 "I tell y',there's more horrors an' spirits an' secrets out there in this world  than most folks would ever know..."

Oooh -gives yuh the shivers dunnit me dears?

From a witch's vengeance for the local squire not paying her for what she did for him to a young woman being hanged as a witch because she never drowned in the water -Yeah, real thing: if you were thrown in the water and drowned you were innocent -Yay! If you bobbed up and never drowned -boo! Hiss! Witch! And they killed you any way. Then the witch helping out at an "infestation" (old phrase for poltergeist activity). All three linked up by Mr Treacle a rather snazzy looking black cat.

Then we have my main man: The Man of the Forest, the Old Man of the Wood, Herne the Hnter or, here, Jack Greenherne.

The story goes on with gore and horror aplentyas well as some back story. All wonderfully drawn by Hitchcock.  

The  story and script is well written, it should be since it is John Short and he's been around a while.  It's interesting how he can write the humorous almost Carry On movies comic strips or add a good old fashioned British tongue-in-cheek quips and jokes and then shift over to pure horror.

Seriously, you need to get a copy of this if you are into horror comics. The biggest compliment I can give the book is that it gave me a big chunk of nostalgia and memories of old Hammer/Tenser movies.

This is a horror comic in the only format a horror comic should be in -black and white. Kult Creations is rather like Hexagon Comics in that both produce excellent entertainment but both seem to be slept on by the comic readers. 

10 out of 10

Hexagon comics:The End of the Partisans

 

 

7x10 squarebound trade paperback,

88 p.

b&w

ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-491-7; US$15.95

 

Story by  Jean-Marc Lofficier; art & cover by Mario Guevara

1945. World War II is over, but a new, even more terrible conflict is about to erupt.

From San Francisco to Borneo, via London, Paris, Senegal, the Caucasus, and Iraq, the Partisans are forced to return to service, risking their lives to thwart the designs of the mysterious Egyptian god Set...

Featuring Apollo, Baroud, Count Saint-Germain, Corsak, Dan Diamond, the Guardian of the Republic, the Senegalese Guard, Imhotep, the Black Lily, Red Feather, Sadko, Tanka, Wazilla, and Xiu Kappa!

Bonus: a 20-page portfolio gallery of all the Partisans by Mario Guevara.

Over the last 10 months I have not had a very good time and not lifted a pen to draw anything for months. I even put off wanting to review these books but I am glad I relented.

I love that cover. art and the text design works well with it. Guevara has a rather sketchy looking style combined with what looks like a wash of some kind. I may be wrong but who knows.  The one thing I will write is that I have always been a little 50-50 when it comes to Guevara's style but I think that with this book his work is the best I have seen to date. I loved it and it actually got me comic art interested again.

There is a little guide to Partisan members but then.... oh, then come the pin up pages. Gorgeous and I wish I had room on my walls as I'd definitely print these out as posters (maybe one day). The art actually reminds me, if you are old enough you will know what I mean, 1970s black and white comic magazines and I have fond memories of the ones from Atlas Seaboard!

As for the stories well, Lofficier does all the writing so it all flows well keeping characteristion good and the pacing of action well done. Having one person in overall charge of writing and planning out storylines helps -a bit like Roy Thomas used to do at Marvel. Lofficier seems to keep things fresh and he has a good selection of French Golden and Silver ages characters to select from.

That freshness in the story and the artwork is something a comic fan should be interested in and if I had to say "buy this one" to see what is going on at Hexagon this would be the one. It really is fun and action and we get to see the inception of an idea for something called C.L.A.S.H.

Check out the Hexagon site and if you want to buy a copy please consider buying from the company as it helps them.

Hexagon Comics: Ivan Karine, The Original Captain Ukraine

 

squarebound trade paperback, 

64 p. 

b&w
ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-462-7. US$12.95

https://www.hexagoncomics.com/shop-ivan-karine-the-original-captain-ukraine.html

IVAN KARINE, THE ORIGINAL CAPTAIN UKRAINE CLASSIC

 THE DEMONS OF AZOV

- YEGOR BORKINE

Art by Vincenzo Chiomenti

cover by Alfredo Macall

With this special issue, we commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the character of Ivan Karine, which first appeared in the pages of Rodeo No. 138 in February 1963, under the pen of the great Italian artist Vincenzo “Enzo” Chiomenti.

Those ignorant or gullible enough to believe the current Russian propaganda to the effect that Ukraine was merely an administrative division of Russia, and not a people in its own tight, with its own culture and tradition, should reflect upon the fact that 62 years ago, between drawing two western series, a great Italian artist felt sufficiently inspired by the great Ukrainian people to devote an entire series to the adventures of their heroes.

Ivan Karine takes place in 17th century Ukraine and Russia, two vast lands populated by Russians, Tartars, Poles, Ukrainians, Jews, Turks, Romani and Cossacks, all ruled by the Tsars. It is in this exotic setting that its hero, Kochevoy (Captain) Ivan Karine, a Zaporozhian Cossack, seeks to uphold justice and protect the proverbial widows and orphans. Ivan also operates as a secret agent for Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725). Ably assisted by the gigantic Cossack Piotr Mironov, and the young and ingenious Pavlo Gavrile, he undertakes mission after mission, each one more dangerous than the last, in the service of good.

Now travel back in time to the turbulent 17th century and let’s enjoy the adventures of the first, the original Captain Ukraine

Someone told me they would not buy the Captain Ukraine comic because of the current "problems" in that region. I asked whether he had actually looked the book up online to see what it was about? He had not.  So I explained and even sent a couple of scanned pages to show him.

Folks, this a good old fashioned historical adventure comic and that should be enough. There's a nice cover and inside you can see  Macall's pencil illo it is based on -that is some fine pencil work.  Vincenzo Chiomenti's art is nicely done and is the kind of style you might find in British or some European comics of the silver age when black and white ruled supreme.

Chiomenti's stories are fun and full of action and some readers not familiar with European history might be surprised by the Tartars and Turks and their involvement in the region. Did I just make this sound like a dull history book??  It is not.  I love the big trap that opens up and sends the enemy into the moat. It's more a cross between the movie Taras Bulba and the TV serial The Flashing Blade (but without the groovy theme song).

Nice informative intro and a text feature on Chiomenti and, something I really like to see, a photo of the man himself.

Lovely fun read.

Please remember if you can order direct from Hexagon.

Cinebook: Yoko Tsuno 21 - The Celestial Boat

 

Author: Roger Leloup

Age: 12 years and up

Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm

Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441873

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/yoko-tsuno-celestial-boat-p-4603.html

Yoko and her adopted daughter Morning Dew are on their way to China when the man sitting next to them on the plane collapses. Right before, he tells them that ‘the Seventh Tooth of the Dragon hides a treasure’. 

After consulting a local historian, they learn that the Tooth is a mountain, and the ‘treasure’ is, in fact, the tomb of an emperor’s wife who died in the 11th century, at the age of six. A sad tale that will soon have Yoko and Dew travelling to the past once more!

When I got the first Yoko Tsuno book to review I wanted to get it out of the way. It was a"Kiddies book with a feamle character" and one that I thought not that worth bothering with. So quick review and move on.

I was wrong of course.

Space travel. Time travel -there is a whole universe of unique stories and characters. If you want to put it in simple terms Yoko gets up to the sort of thing Dr Who does!  Leloup's work is getting even better and the colours are so nice and easy on the eye.  Look at the cover. Not a single fault in the art that I can see and I really do think more people need to startknowing about Yoko Tsuno.

We have time travel; hang gliding -in the 11th century of course!-, ships colliding and the "fourth wife" not turning out to be quite who Yoko thought. If I write too muchit is going to give away the whole ending but I'll just say that this story is an example of a Consistency Paradox as we interested in Temporal Paradoxes call it. Buy the book. Read the story and you will see what I mean.

Just for kids? Well if I enjoyed it at my age then I'll just write "A comic book adventure for all ages" (that is not even a reference to time travel!).

Cinebook: Billy and Buddy 10 -Walks on the Wild Side

 

Authors: By Christophe Cazenove, illustrated by Jean Bastide

Age: 8 years and up

Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm

Number of pages: 48 colour pages

£8.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441866

Cinebook order page https://www.cinebook.co.uk/billy-buddy-walks-wild-side-p-4600.html?osCsid=dludftu0igoqhq2vm3lln4ech5

 

Anyone who knows dogs knows this: walkies is a sacred moment. It’s communion with the master, exploration of the environment, exercise, socialising … There isn’t a pooch in the world who doesn’t go nuts at the sound of that leash being readied. But when the doggy in question is as cunning and mischievous as Buddy, the whole thing can turn into a complicated process for the master – if he’s even allowed to come along, that is!

April 2024 was the last Billy and Buddy I saw. Yep. vol. 9 and I have to admit over two years later it is hard to get enthusiastic. The art is nice and clean, colourful and at times can bring a smile to the face. Dog bath time...yep. Wash 'em down and watch as they find the nearest dirt patch to roll in. It's fun and the gags and story is noty over complicated but I know from past comments that this is a book "for children of all ages"!

And why not? We are in a (expletive word) grim world and if a comic or comic album can get you away from that for a few minutes then go for it. Adults didn't stop reading comics because they grew up but because they were told they were adults and comics were for children. 

I often think that I should have changed my art style and stayed in Europe.Oh, the lovely colour work is done by  Luc Perdriset and Jean Bastide. Buy it for the kids...or yourself!

We Are All Trump. It says so in the title!

 

Ben R Dilworth

21pp

A4

Black and white (printers could not get a bright enough orange so,,,)

£10.00 UK (non UK countries prices are on the store front)

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/trump/paperback/product-gjz86me.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

He is the GREATEST President the United States has ever known!

He has made the United States Truly respected around the world!

He has created world peace!

The most beautiful women in the world WANT him!

He makes $2234,992,000per minute!

He lives in a golden palace that was formerly bland and white.

He is President Trump......

...uh, he's currently sleeping face down in a plate of classic American bacon and eggs.

Yes, Black Tower does do satirical cartoon stuff. Hey, if I sell a book anywhere I still have to pay US taxes. So I have a "voice". Well, in case of any legal ramifications or potential drone strikes  on the old Tower I have to give full credit to Ben Dilworth. He dunnit I am just an innocent publisher.

Prepare for what some have called "***** hilarious!"  (I am not talking about my or anyone else's hairline -we are talking....TRUMP! And you know....we are all Trump. Except me. Yay. Go me!

Cinebook: Harry Dickson 3 -The Red-Eyed Vampire

 

Authors: Luana Vergari and Doug Headline, from a story by Jean Ray; illustrated by Onofrio Catacchio

Age: 12 years and up

Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm

Number of pages: 56 colour pages

£10.99 inc. VAT

ISBN: 9781800441880

Please consider buying direct from the publisher –it helps them survive!

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/harry-dickson-eyed-vampire-p-4602.html?osCsid=u2fncsc7lqqukd59gc321v1v06

 

Harry Dickson’s skills were instrumental in getting blood-thirsty killer ‘the Red-Eyed Vampire’ arrested. The detective is invited to the small German town where the murderer was from to witness his execution. However, he cannot help but wonder whether somebody else was controlling the ‘Vampire’ before abandoning him.

When an attempt is made to break into the condemned man’s cell the night before his death, Dickson knows that the investigation is not over yet …

Yes, it is the classic and very delightful “Detective solves the case and catches the murderer but…” plot.  Will Dickson find out what was going on and whether someone or…some thing was behind Ebenezer Krank controlling things? You will need to buy this book to find out and I will admit I spotted Sherlock Holmes in panel 1 page 5….IT WAS HIM!!!

Onofrio’s art is the sexiest four colour eye candy I have seen in a long time. The characters the scenes all work so well that, yes, I did go through it twice (liar –it was three times). And.. colour wise the work of Ooshima makes things even more incredible looking –I’m sure I’ve mentioned Ooshima’s work in a previous review?

Add the story into the mix (which would not have existed without the script based on an original story by Jean Ray)  and you have everything you need for a quiet night in reliving the era when you were no real detective unless you had a trench-coat, an assistant, smoked a pipe and had a concealed weapon (rightly it should be a Webley revolver but then again Americans insist that it should be a “snub-nosed 38” –so common).

Love it. I think I am inspired to watch Rathbone and Bruce’s Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Claw later!

Charcoal.... Nothing to do with barbecques

 

 

Pierre Labbat

22 pages

Black and White

£8.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/charcoal-1/paperback/product-84m9ee7.html?q=&page=1&pageSize=4

Labbat is back!

Charcoal is a long awaited new book written and illustrated by the mystery comic pro people are guessing about but never guess right, "Footie is Life" "Corporal Religion" "Angel's Share" and more. ("more" is NOT a clue....?) For lovers of street level Independent comics and zines this one is for you!

pssst! his real name was mentioned in a post recently about favourite artists

Cinebook Ltd: The Bank volume 3

 

Authors: by Pierre Boisserie and Philippe Guillaume; Illustrated by Julien Maffre
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 21.7 x 28.7 cm
Number of pages: 56 colour pages
£10.99

ISBN: 9781800441903

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/bank-barons-accounts-p-4606.html

REMEMBER: buying from the publisher means they get sales money to carry on publishing.

1857. It has been five years since Baron Haussmann began his colossal endeavour: remodelling Paris into a modern capital. The city is at the centre of such a storm of real estate speculation that not every means employed to ensure the success of an investment stays within the confines of the law. 

In the middle of this financial free-for-all, a new generation of Saint-Huberts will clash, the children of Charlotte and those of Christian, two branches seemingly unable to escape the hatred the sister and the brother have for each other.

Volume 2 was out last December (2025) which is why I could not remember what was going on. I checked the stats to find when volume 2 came out and realised that people are not just checking Cinebook title reviews for 2025 but going back as far as 2020. In quite high numbers, too. Anyway, uh, yeah. Oh tright. Review. 

"I don't want to go. I don't  want to be a stokebroker like father" Hey, kid: "I don't want to go to school cuz they are all morons" never got someone out of school so excuse me if I laugh out loud!

I tend to find wordy books boring but this one was fun as it is not just wordy! We have murders! We have sex! We have corruption! No Trumps in sight! ahem. Anyhow, the does-not-want-to-be-a-stockbroker -or "The rag doll"-has a few twists and turns to navigate until he finally takes the step that makes him a stock broker. Never saw that coming!

The story is interesting and has more to it than I tyhought it mightr. The art is good and the colour work by Delf is atmospheric. I think people tend to forget the colourists and just see the artist's name. Colourists do a great deal and can even cover up imperfections in art.  So if you want a break from men and women in gaudy costumes, from horror or sci fi then The Bank ought to suit you.

I need to find volumes 1 and 2 and remember what happened!

Cinebook Ltd: Scotland Episode 1

 

 Authors: LEO & Rodolphe; illustrated by Bertrand Marchal

Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages
£7.99 incl VAT

ISBN: 9781800441897

Please buy direct from the publisher so every penny goes back to them!

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/scotland-episode-p-4605.html?osCsid=u2eu9ao9vp2d3q73aogvq3h9s5

After her exhausting mission in Amazonia, Kathy Austin is off to Scotland on holiday. She intends to take possession of a house her great-aunt bequeathed her. Unfortunately, she finds the house ruined, burned down a few weeks earlier – and it also appears that the police find the circumstances of the old lady’s death a tad … strange.

 While the locals blame the ghosts and goblins that haunt the moors, Kathy soon discovers signs that point to a very different explanation: ‘crop circles’ of ... alien origin?!

I have to admit that I was not looking forward to this. Not sure why but you get a book and you read it, right (I pint this out to all those You Tube comic vloggers who show a neatly mylar bagged comic and then ask their viewers "Is this any good? What's the story like?" I keep shouting "open the ***** book and read it moron!"). Anyway, I sat down and read it.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The story was a lot more like the old movies whjere someone inherits a castle/mansion and the l;ocal village is all talking about odd things going on...and odd things do seem to be going on.  Being asked out to dinner by everyone including the village Bobby (police constable) is not that odd if you are young and attractive like Kathy but based on her previous adventures you do look at these things suspiciously!!

There is DEFINITELY a murder. If I remember the law correctly and things you must never do to people....yeah, that's murder (no spoilers!)

The scenes and art are as good as you would expect from Marchal and the colour work by Sebastien Bouet adds to the atmosphere and really layers the eye candy on.  The story? Oh, come on -it's Leo and Rodolphe what are you expecting?

After Africa and the Amazon wee little Scotland shows it can be jkust as mysterious as anywhere!

Highly Recommended