Bear Alley Books has announced it is to publish the entire “Mytek the Mighty” series under licence from copyright owners Rebellion, across four 180 to 200 page volumes.
Following hot on the heels of the publisher’s brilliant The Phantom Patrol collection, this is great news for fans of this stunning strip, created by and written by Tom Tully and drawn by Eric Bradbury and, later, Bill Lacey, which first appeared in Valiant in the issue cover dated 26th September 1964, but also appeared in Vulcan, and was syndicated internationally.
The covers, not yet revealed, have been designed by Martin Baines.
Described by Lew Stringer as “the greatest of all the monster strips”, singling out the battle between Mytek and the giant Gogra robot as a highlight, Mytek has been compared to King Kong, and is a favourite character for many of a certain age to this day.
The price point of the four volumes has yet to be confirmed but the size of each collection means they are likely to be in the £25 – £35 range, according to publisher Steve Holland.
The long-running, popular strip – the character revived in recent years by Rebellion – revolves around Mytek, a large and powerful robotic ape. Debuting in September 1964 in Valiant, the strip, its origins reflecting contemporary attitudes to Africa of the day, ran until January 1970 before being replaced by “College Cowboy”.
In the strip, the creation of Mytek is inspired by the legend of the ape-god of the Akari tribe, who Professor Boyce builds to end their war-like ways after they attack his laboratory. Unfortunately, chaos ensues when Boyce’s assistant, Gogra, decides he wants Mytek’s power for himself, and steals the robot, wreaking worldwide havoc…
Bradbury illustrated “Mytek the Mighty” until 1966, when he began work on another Tully-written story in Valiant, “The House of Dolmann”. His replacement was Bill Lacey, who had extensive experience on Fleetway’s line of Picture Library titles, as well as drawing “The Sludge” for Lion. The strip originally ended in February 1968, but returned in June.
The strip, a fan favourite, has been reprinted in countries including Finland, France, Germany, Serbia, Spain (where, in 1968, an entirely new story was created locally for one issue, written by Fernando M. Sixty, drawn by Spanish artist Rafael Lopez Espí); and Sweden. In addition to revivals in 1992 for the 2000AD Action Special, in a strip written by Si Spencer and drawn by Shaky Kane, and in the 2005 mini series Albion, a “Mytek the Mighty” featured in the 2020 Smash! Special, written by Suyi Davies Okungbowa and drawn by Anand Radhakrishnan. The latter sought to reset the original strip’s contemporary stereotyping of Africans.
“I have been dropping hints for a couple of months that I was working on something big – and I do mean literally big – but I wanted to play my cards close to my chest until I was close to completion,” Steve Holland teased this week over on Bear Alley. “Well, I’m close enough and confident enough to want to finally pull back the curtain.
“Bear Alley Books is reprinting the whole of Mytek the Mighty across four volumes. Each volume is 180-200 pages, with the first two volumes to be released together as the opening three stories were epics that ran for a total of 25 months, with artist Eric Bradbury turning out two and a half pages of astonishing artwork every week.
“Because the second story ran for a year, I’ve had to split it in two, and juggle some additional material – stories from the Valiant Summer Special and the Valiant Space Special, and some introductory material. Volume one has a foreword and the first part of a biographical essay on Tom Tully, while the second has part two of Tully and a second essay on the career of Eric Bradbury. The Tully is (like the early Mytek stories) a bit of an epic, the first substantial look at his career in and out of comics, I believe.”
Steve has revealed the accompanying feature includes some fascinating details about Eric Bradbury’s life thanks to the opportunity he’s had recently to talk to his daughter, as well as drawing on a couple of chats he had with Eric himself back in 1993/94.
“Moving on, we then have volumes three and four drawn by Bill Lacey,” Steve continues. “This has some of my favourite stories because it was during this period – Bradbury had moved over to ‘House of Dolmann’ – that I started reading Valiant.
“… Hopefully, if you read ‘Mytek’ as a kid, having the entire collected saga in your hands will bring back those intense memories from childhood, and if you didn’t get a chance to read the whole five year run back then, there are some “just WOW” moments ahead of you.”
Right now, Steve is awaiting approval on all four books from Rebellion, with proof copies in the works. Expect release news very soon – so be sure to keep your eye on them Bear Alley website for the latest news… and, if you haven’t already, grab a copy of The Phantom Patrol collection while you’re there, or one of Steve’s many other brilliant titles, such as High Seas and High Adventures, or his superb Countdown to TV Action guide!
• Read Steve Holland’s “Mytek the Mighty” announcement in full on Bear Alley
• International Heroes: Mytek the Mighty
• Kingkongbd offers an extensive guide to “Mytek the Mighty” reprints in France
• Blimey! It’s Lew Stringer’s Guide to VULCAN
• Martin Crookall’s Guide to Valiant
Mytek the Mighty, Valiant and VULCAN ©️ Rebellion
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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.
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well done working on this…will be getting books..
I discovered this strip as a kid in the pages of VULCAN. Looking forward to picking this up.