Random Comics Theatre
Johnny Hazard Quarterly #4 [1987]The JOHNNY HAZARD comic strip created by Frank Robbins ran from 1944 to 1977, with separate daily and Sunday storylines. It's an aviation based adventure strip which Robbins began coming off a run on another aviation strip, SCORCHY SMITH, and continued until his retirement.
This reprint series from Toronto's own Dragon Lady Press focused on the Sunday pages, with about a year's worth of pages every issue, starting with the second year of the strip in #1. I'm not sure if there had been a prior reprint of the first year shortly before that or it was skipped for another reason.
The pages are in black and white, looking really sharp for the most part, probably from syndicate proofs. The first half of the book is presented in a landscape three-tier format, which I think is the most complete version (10 panels per strip). The second half switches to a portrait four-tier format, which I think drops a panel (9 panels per page).
This issue starts in mid-1948 and ends in mid-1949, with two full stories. "Port of Missing Ships" sees our hero's plane drifting into the legendary graveyard of ships in the Sargasso Sea, accompanied by the beautiful Lisbeth Manning and sidekick Cut-Out Keeley. There they find pirates led by Judge Beech Comber and have to make a daring escape involving gunfire, explosions and a modified plane
After that comes "Sucker Fish For Supper", after our heroes are picked up by the submarine of recurring villain Baron Debris, who involves them in an elaborate heist aboard a cruise ship.
A lot of fun stuff, Robbins is a great artist in the classic Caniff style, with a great eye for details, always keeping the twists coming in the storyline and lightening it up with frequent humour and slapstick fun.
Every issue of the series featured a brand new cover by Alex Toth, with colours by Murphy Anderson Visual Concepts. As a bonus this time, we get a preview of Toth cover to the never-published fifth issue, as the series ended here, which indicates the next storyline would involve dinosaurs. Just another day on the job for Johnny Hazard...
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