Strip dates given are those of their original appearance in the British newspaper the Daily Mirror, first compiled by Geoffrey Wren and Ann Holmes and updated by Ant Jones and Philip Harbottle
Published: 15th December 1989 – 16th March 1990 (X299 – Y65)
Number of Episodes: 78
On the planet of Subucus, men have become slaves to Lilith, sister in evil to The Great Beast. Her assistant, a witch named Morcred, tells Lilith about Garth, a man capable of resisting her charm.
Morcred summons Garth through the Sword of Honour, a prize presented to him for winning the British Fencing Championship.
Garth is tricked into believing Lilith has denounced her evil ways and has fallen for him. She becomes a bat and poisons Garth with a bite to the chest. Captain Creda, a servant to Lilith, rescues him by sucking out the poison.
Morcred turns into a monstrous swordsman that Garth defeats with his sword. A group of rebels and fugitives, led by Creda and her brother Tirus, come together and attack Lilith’s palace. Once again she becomes a bat and escapes. The planet of Subucus is now at peace and Garth returns home to Earth.
Synopsis by Ant Jones
JE
MA
15/12/89 – 16/3/90
X299 – Y65
78
134
The Chiller Connection
AA/JA
MA
17/3/90 – 15/6/90
Y66 – Y143
78
2013
135
Dancing Queen
JE
MA
16/6/90 – 14/9/90
Y144 – Y221
78
136
Dark Side
JA
MA
15/9/90 – 14/12/90
Y222 – Y299
78
137
Treasure of Colchis
TQ/JA
MA
15/12/90 – 16/3/91
Y300 – Z65
78
138
Bedside Manor
JE
MA
18/3/91 – 15/6/91
Z66 – Z143
78
139
Apache Moon
JE
MA
17/6/91 – 14/9/91
Z144 – Z221
78
2014
140
The Iceman Liveth
TQ
MA
16/9/91 – 14/12/91
Z222 – Z299
78
141
Hell-Fire
JE
MA
16/12/91 – 16/3/92
Z300 – A64
77
142
Blood Sport
TQ
MA
17/3/92 – 15/6/92
A65 – A143
79
143
Man on the Edge
JA
MA
16/6/92 – 14/9/92
A144 – A221
78
144
The Killing of Rusty O’Roare
JE
MA
15/9/92 – 14/12/92
A222 – A299
78
145
Twin Souls
Writer: Philip Harbottle
Artist: Martin Asbury
Published: 15th December 1992 – 16th March 1993 (A300 – B64)
Number of Episodes: 78
Garth experiences vivid dreams of a planet dying from global warming. Professor Lumiere deduces he is telepathically linked to his “cosmic twin” on a distant planet (Lyra). He transposes Garth’s mind with that of Lyra’s ruler, Crax, who had been placed in therapeutic sleep. While he slept his “Shadow Leader” Nazrin has forced the population into building spaceships to migrate into space, unaware they are sabotaged to explode. An insectile alien race are focusing the sun’s heat onto Lyra through vast lenses in a tunnel cut through its moon, to force the exodus.
Garth and Crax’s girlfriend Elvia follow Nazrin to the moon, where he is revealed to be an alien who had been “wearing” Nazrin’s dead body. Garth and Elvia escape in a spaceship, smashing the lenses and destroying the moon in the process. Crax reclaims his body just as Elvia, unaware of the switch, is about to make love!
Synopsis by Philip Harbottle
PH
MA
15/12/92 – 16/3/93
A300 – B64
78
146
Viva El Garto!
AA
MA
17/3/93 – 15/6/93
B65 – B142
78
147
Return to the Static Zone
PO/JA
MA
16/6/93 – 14/9/93
B143 – B220
78
148
Warlord
Writers: Philip Harbottle & John Allard
Artist: Martin Asbury
Published: 15th September 1993 – 14th December 1993 (B221 – B298)
Number of Episodes: 78
Serving as a United Nations Observer on a Pacific island, Garth teams up with Cindy Lee, a feisty Texas lady leading a relief convoy to the village of Lontaga — cut off and under the domination of the crazed General Kano, a local warlord. Kano seized control of a chunk of the island when civil war broke out, and uses the villagers as slaves in a copper mine. He gets weapons by smuggling out copper with the help of crooks from Tokyo.
Using his great strength and cunning, Garth successfully leads the convoy past Kano’s forces to reach Lontaga, but Cindy is kidnapped and taken to Kano’s HQ, an old Spanish castle. About to be whipped by Kano, Cindy is saved when Garth intervenes. After defeating a Sumo champion in a fight to the death, Garth escapes with Cindy by hanging onto a dragon kite as a typhoon destroys the castle.
Synopsis by Philip Harbottle
PH/JA
MA
15/9/93 – 14/12/93
B221 – B298
78
149
Champions
Writers: Philip Harbottle & John Allard
Artist: Martin Asbury
Published: 15th December 1993 – 16th March 1994 (B299 – C64)
Number of Episodes: 78
Waxmel, interstellar entrepreneur, (a parody of Robert Maxwell) stages sporting contests televised across the galaxy. His current champions are brothers Dez and Zed Grimos from his home world. Garth and Megon (a being from a high gravity world) are snatched across space to compete in three contests: a sled race across an ice zone, a race to find water in a desert, and a contest to ride on the back of a genetically engineered sea monster and steer it back into harbour.
Waxwel rigs the contests to ensure the Brothers’ victory. They win the first, but lose the second and decisive third, in which Dez is killed by the sea monster.
At the awards ceremony Zed hands over the Champions trophy to Garth containing a bomb planted by Waxmel, but Garth and Megon outwit them and both are killed. The triumphant Garth and Megon are returned to their home planets.
Synopsis by Philip Harbottle
PH/JA
MA
15/12/93 – 16/3/94
B299 – C64
78
150
Nightmare in Paris
AA
MA
17/3/94 – 15/6/94
C65 – C142
78
Writer / Artist abbreviations:
AA = Angus Allan • DF = Don Freeman • DH = Dick Hailstone • FB = Frank Bellamy • HM = Hugh McClelland • JA = John Allard • JE = Jim Edgar • JT = James Tomlinson • KR = Ken Roscoe • MA = Martin Asbury | PH = Philip Harbottle • PO = Peter O’Donnell | PT = Peter Tranter • SD = Steve Dowling • TQ = Tim Quinn • MB = Martin Baines
Note on strip codes / serial numbers, etc:
Each code letter (running A to Z, excluding the letter I) represents a year’s worth of Mondays to Saturdays, the days on which The (Daily) Mirror newspaper of London is published Thus in any given year there will be a maximum of 314 numbers assigned to a serial code Figures in brackets denote number of days the newspaper appeared that year Pre 1982 it was not published Sunday, Good
Friday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day From 1982 it was published every day except Sunday and Christmas Day Stories 163, 164 and 165 appeared only in
the Mirror’s Northern Ireland edition. Thick writing = leap years
