Old-fashioned Comics

Tuesday, 10 November 2026

The Champions from Joe 90 Top Secret (1969) - Compiled and edited by H. C.

The Champions comic strip ran in the British weekly comic Joe 90: Top Secret

(published by City Magazines in co-operation with Century 21) from

its debut issue on January 18, 1969, until the comic's

cancellation with issue #34 on September 6, 1969.

Overview of the Comic Strip

• Source Material: Based on the ITC live-action sci-fi/espionage

television series

The Champions, which followed three UN-style secret agents

(working for W.I.N. — the World Intelligent Network) who

gained superior physical and mental abilities

after a plane crash in the Himalayas.

• The Characters: The core trio featured in the adaptations and stories include:

• Craig Stirling (played on TV by Stuart Damon)

• Sharron Macready (played by Alexandra Bastedo / "Alexandra Pasta")

• Richard Barrett (played by William Gaunt)

• Artwork: The strip was illustrated in its early run by comic artist Jon Davis

(who handled the first three issues), alongside other British comic creators of the era.

• Format: Joe 90: Top Secret was a 20-page tabloid-style comic featuring

photogravure printing, where The Champions shared space alongside other TV

tie-in strips like Joe 90, Land of the Giants, and Star Trek.

• Annuals: The characters also appeared in text and strip stories (such a

s "How Nemesis Began" and "World Intelligent Network")

in the contemporaneous Joe 90 Top Secret Comic Annuals.

[AI Overview]

111 pages

Compiled and edited by H. C.

We thank H. C. for his courtesy in offering our reader

this magnificent compilation.

The Clutching Hand from The Wizard (1970) - Compiled and edited by H. C.

The Clutching Hand is a classic thriller and mystery adventure strip

that appeared in The Wizard, a British boys' story paper and

comic published by D.C. Thomson.

Key Details

• Original Run: The strip originally debuted in the relaunched Wizard comic in 1970 (starting around May in Issue No. 13) and featured periodic returns and reprints later in the decade, including a notable cover and storyline appearance in December 1977 (such as Issue #411 on December 24, 1977, featuring cover art by Jeff Bevan).

• Plot & Characters: The suspense-driven storyline frequently involved mystery plots and detective work—such as Inspector Lannigan tracking down the masterminds or hidden figures behind the mysterious "Clutching Hand".

• Format: It ran alongside other popular 1970s D.C. Thomson adventure and sports strips like Scrappy, Cool Kragg, the Team-Maker, and Dexter of D-Squad.

[AI Overview]

Instead of the logical idea that this strip was influenced by The Valiant comic

"The Steel Claw" from Jesús Blasco the germ of the comic was The Clutching Hand,

a text story in The Rover issue 1452 from 25/04/53 till issue 1458 06/06/53,

later there were more appearances of The Clutching Hand in The Wizard.
The first one of them, was a picture series started in the issue 013 09/05/70 and

ended in the issue 025 01/08/70.
The second one called Return of the Clutching Hand started in the issue

055 27/02/71 and ended in the issue 064 01/05/71

The third one is a text serial, repeat of The Rover story, running from

the issue 277 31/05/75 to issue 283 12/07/75
The next one ran from issue 363 22/01/77 till issue 375 16/04/77,

and is a repeat of the first picture series from 1970

The final one, which ran from issue 411 24/12/77 to issue 420 25/02/78,

was a repeat of Return of The Clutching Hand from 1971, although here

its title is simply The Clutching Hand.
According to some fans the artist was Bill Mainwaring.

Source: Own elaboration and Comics UK
https://comicsuk.co.uk/index.php

Information provided by Luis Miguel

Compiled and edited by H. C.

We thank H. C. for his courtesy in offering our reader

this magnificent compilation.

Merlo the Magician from Boy's World - Compiled and edited by H. C.

Merlo the Magician was a popular adventure feature in the British

weekly boys' comic Boy's World, which launched

in January 1963 by Odhams Press.

Character & Concept

• Double Life: Merlo was both an internationally famous stage magician
and a top-secret Interpol agent.
• Missions: He used his mastery of illusion, sleight of hand, and
stagecraft to combat high-powered criminal syndicates and fantastic threats.

Merlo the Magician

A spy created by Harry Harrison, Merlo the Magician
was originally intended to be named Merlin, until
someone higher up in Boys' World's management
decided it needed changed. Initially he appeared in a
twelve part text story, The Spell of Magic (Boys'
World #11-23), before transitioning to a comic strip.
Harrison wrote the first two Merlo comic strips, Men
Without Faces (Boys' World #24-43) and The Army
of Crime (Boys' World #44-vol.2 #17), before
handing over to another writer for the remaining two
stories, Danger in the Desert (Boys' World #18-27)
and Operation Rescue (Boys' World #28-40). All
parts had art by Garcia Pizarro. Merlo retumed in the
Boys' World Annuals with four stories: 1964's Smash
and Grab; 1965's Death in Venice, 1966's Payroll
Raid, and 1967's Man Overboard.

114 pages

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/b/boysworld.htm

https://harryharrison.wordpress.com/2008/12/09/merlo-the-magician/

Compiled and edited by H. C.

We thank H. C. for his courtesy in offering our reader

this magnificent compilation.

Sensation Mystery (1952-1953) - Compiled by Voltaire57

Sensation Mystery was an American comic book anthology series published
by DC Comics that ran for seven issues from 1952 to 1953.

The title was a direct continuation and rebranding

of the long-running Sensation Comics. Originally launched in 1942

as the primary home for Wonder Woman,

Sensation Comics faced declining superhero sales by the late 1940s.

DC initially shifted the book into a romance format, and later into

a supernatural/mystery

format with issue #107. Following issue #109, DC officially changed

the title of the series to Sensation Mystery, continuing the original

numbering starting with issue #110 (dated July–August 1952).

📘 Publication History & Format

Publisher: DC Comics
Run History: Issues #110 to #116
Publication Dates: July–August 1952 – July–August 1953
Frequency: Bi-monthly
Genres: Fantasy, supernatural, horror, and suspense

🕵️‍♂️ Key Characters & Creative Talent

With Wonder Woman completely absent, the primary recurring feature of the book became Johnny Peril, an adventurer and investigator of the supernatural who originally debuted in Just Imagine and Comic Cavalcade. Alongside his companion Sandra Shaw, Peril investigated paranormal anomalies, curses, and bizarre occurrences.

The remainder of each 36-page issue consisted of short, twist-ending horror and sci-fi anthology stories. Legendary comic industry figures worked on the book under editor Julius Schwartz, including creators like Robert Kanigher, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Frank Giacoia and Murphy Anderson.

🗓️ Issue Checklist

Issue	Cover Date	Lead Story / Notable Feature
#110	July–August 1952	"Nightmare Island" (Art by Carmine Infantino)
#111	September–October 1952	"The Spectre in the Flame"
#112	November–December 1952	"Death Has Five Guesses"
#113	January–February 1953	"The End of Death"
#114	March–April 1953	"The Haunted Diamond" (Featuring Johnny Peril & Sandra Shaw)
#115	May–June 1953	"The Phantom Castle"
#116	July–August 1953	"The Toy Assassins" (Final Issue)

🛑 Cancellation

The series was short-lived, lasting only a year under its mystery title. The final issue was Sensation Mystery #116, which hit newsstands in May 1953 with a cover date of July–August 1953. Its cancellation came right on the cusp of the industry-wide backlash against horror comics that eventually led to the creation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/sensation-mystery/4050-1474/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensation_Comics

https://www.comics.org/series/870/