The latest books from Bear Alley Books, Mytek the Mighty Volumes One and Two are available to order now – and what a fantastic blast from the past they are, too.
Mytek the Mighty Volumes One and Two begin a run of four volumes reprinting the entire run the Valiant favourite, a strip published between 1964 and 1970, written by Tom Tully and drawn by Eric Bradbury.
For those unfamiliar, the robot Mytek was the creation of Professor Arnold Boyce as the answer to rioting by Akari natives, who worship a clay representation of an ape as a symbol of power and destruction.
Boyce, whose laboratory is destroyed, creates a colossal robot in the shape of the ape-god which he and local game-warden Dirk Mason use to quell the riotous actions of the natives… but the Professor’s problems are just beginning, as his villainous assistant, Gogra, begins making plans to steal the robot ape and use it to march against mankind.
The kidnapped ape leaves a trail of devastation behind it, unaware of its actions… but Professor Boyce has equipped the ape with a learning brain and Mytek begins to develop self-awareness…
“Mytek the Mighty hails from an era when Valiant was at its height of popularity,” says publisher Steve Holland. And while the character’s origins contemporary origins are very much of different times, once past them, what’s not to love about a giant robot destroying everything in its path as it travels the globe?
“Mytek the Mighty” is a cracking yarn from yesteryear writ large by Tom Tully, drawn with aplomb by the brilliant Eric Bradbury, a master of comic storytelling, and the perfect choice to bring this crazy tale to dramatic life in the pages of a weekly comic.
Reproduction on both volumes – based on the digital advance copies received – looks absolutely top notch, and it’s quite clear Bear Alley have put a huge amount of effort in to making these collections look as good as possible, working, I assume, almost entirely from print rather than original art. As with other collections of British weeklies, I know from my own experience how hard this can be, given the variance of print quality, depending at what stage in a print run your source copy may be from!
Bonus Features, Too!
Not only do you get some fantastic comic tales to read: the collections also include features on Tom Tully and Eric Bradbury, two masters of British weird menace stories. Volume one contains the first of a two-part look at the career of writer extraordinaire Tom Tully.
As we’ve previously noted, Tully penned many of the most fondly remembered strips during his decades-long time as a scriptwriter: among them, “Heros the Spartan”, “Johnny Cougar”, “Kelly’s Eye”, “The Steel Claw”, “Slave of the Screamer”, “The Toys of Doom”, “Raven on the Wing”, “Football Family Robinson”, “Look Out for Lefty” (the strip that got Action shut down), “Death Game 1999”, “Harlem’s Heroes”, “The Mean Arena”, “Johnny Red” and twenty years of “Roy of the Rovers”.
Volume Two takes a look at artist Eric Bradbury, using interviews with Eric in the 1990s and information from his daughter to build a picture of his life and works. Both are, as ever, great companion items to the reproduced strips, offering informative, authoritative insight into the careers of these creators whose work did so much to shape the look of so many memorable strips across several decades.
Bear Alley Books, publishers of titles such as Countdown to TV Action, Hurricane & Champion: The Companion Papers to Valiant, The Phantom Patrol and the indispensable Lion King of Picture Story Papers, have done classic British comic fans proud with these two collections, and I’m now eagerly awaiting Volumes Three and Four, due to follow in September and November.
John Freeman
• Early orders for Mytek the Mighty Volumes One and Two via Paypal will get early customers a discount off the cover price at £47.60 for the pair.
Each volume is available to buy separately, the same Early Order discount applies for early customers, price £25.45 for the single volume. All prices include p&p in the UK.
Paypal payments to steve [at] bearalley.co.uk. Please make sure you include your address. If you have any questions, just drop me a line…
Contact Steve for prices to Europe and North America
• Bear Alley Books is online at bearalleybooks.blogspot.com
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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: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
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This is a great review. I have been privileged to get these volumes a little earlier. I am Eric Bradbury’s daughter and Steve has done a wonderful job on these first two volumes. I’m very grateful that Dad’s work is available to a new generation and re serving the treat up for those who are already fans.
Thanks, Louise. Eric’s work is much appreciated by so many, on many strips down the years. Steve’s feature in Volume Two is absolutely fascinating!