Fumettomania Factory recently published a profile of Italian comic artist Massimo Belardinelli as part of their Dan Dare Special Project – which led me to a chance discovery of what appears to be the earliest reprint of a 2000AD strip in France.
Sunny Sun – a strange sounding title, the name of a character who featured in the publication – ran for 54 issues, between February 1977 and November 1986, published by Mon Journal (also known as Aventures et Voyages) founded in the 1940s. The 100-plus page digest title featured reprinted, re-edited versions of several Fleetway strips, including the 2000AD “Dan Dare” stories, as “the bizarrely retitled “Super Crack”.
Sunny Sun was published monthly until issue 22, then quarterly, its lineup focused on science fiction and superhero stories.
The choice of material, according to one French comic fan site, was unusual for the publisher, which made the decision to publish their titles as “pocket digests” in the 1950s, the same format as former British titles such as War Picture Library and DC Thomson’s ongoing Commando. While they did utilise some French talent, most of their output appears to consisted of translations of international reprint, sourcing material from Argentina, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.
While the magazine’s namesake character was a Mon Journal creation, French comic archivist Dominik Vallet notes the “Sunny Sun” series that gave the magazine its name, wasn’t its strongest offering: indeed, far from it. It seems, in fact, that it owed much of its success to Dan Dare and company.
“At the beginning, the magazine struggled to find its footing” he notes, “with a multitude of British mini-series like ‘Brise-Fer’ [“Sergeant Strong”, from Valiant, by ], ‘Et la Terre sera détruiree’, [‘Reptil’ [Lion’s 1970s supervillain tale, “Shadow of The Snake”, written by Angus Allan, with art by John Catchpole], ‘Tony Steel’ [“Slave of the Screamer” from Valiant, written by Tom Tully, with fantastic art from Jesus Blasco, and ‘Zenga’ [“The Prisoner of Zenga”, from Valiant], before finding its footing with some flagship series such as ‘Brigade OVNI’ [the creation of Italian duo Ennio Missaglia and Vladimiro Missaglia, who also featured in Mon Journal’s Espace as well as Sunny Sun], ‘Super Crack’, ‘Mosquito’ [aka The Fly, the creation of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon], and ‘Le Léopard de Lime Street’ [“The Leopard from Lime Street”, created for Buster by Tom Tully and Eric Bradbury].”
After a fairly long run, Mon Journal began reprinting early stories Sunny Sun alongside launching “Nouvelles Frontières“, what Vallet calls “a very interesting science fiction series, unfortunately cut short by the magazine’s discontinuation.”
French fan sites suggest the full 2000AD “Dan Dare” series ran in Sunny Sun, including the strips drawn by Dave Gibbons.
It’s curious to see how the 2000AD “Dan Dare” stories were repurposed, and we can’t help but wonder why the strip was renamed “Super Crack”, unless it was to lean into the impression Pat Mills and Massimo Berlardinelli’s take on the EAGLE character is more superhero than space hero, a better fit for Sunny Sun’s brand…
While the debut of “Dan Dare” as “Super Crack” in Sunny Sun appears to be the first French publication of a 2000AD strip, it was not the last. In 1980, Mon Journal launched Collection Super Force, which ran for fourteen issues, one special, entitled “Force X”, plus five albums collecting earlier material, featuring a wider range of strips from the comic, including “M.A.C.H 1”, “Invasion”, “Judge Dredd” and more, alongside reprints of strips from DC Thomson’s Starblazer digest.
Head downthetubes for…
• Facebook Massimo Belardinelli Appreciation Society
• Mon Journal – A Guide by Dominik Vallet (in French)
• Sunny Sun – A Guide by Dominik Vallet (in French)
• Grand Comics Database: Mon Journal – List of Titles
• downthetubes: Valiant’s “Sergeant Storm” back in action thanks to Hibernia | Copies still available from Hibernia
• downthetubes: Hibernia’s latest Fleetway Files title “Slave of the Screamer”, available now | Copies still available from Hibernia
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: 2000AD, British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Flashback Corner
hugely derivative spaceship designs: Gene Colan from Captain Marvel, and Dave Cockrum, probably Shi’ar from X-Men
“Sunny Sun” is such a delightfully continental title for a comic. If there had been a UK version it would be called “Rainy Rain”!