Monday, February 02, 2015

Forgotten UK Superheroes: LIEUTENANT LIGHTNING

There have been many British superheroes over the years. Some of them forgotten, some of them deservedly forgettable. Case in point, Lieutenant Lightning from Smash! Annual 1969. A one-off strip exclusive to that annual, never to be revived. Spider-Man it's not, but it's an entertaining enough story and no worse than some B-list American superheroes of the time. The redeeming factor is the excellent artwork by the always-reliable Tom Kerr. An artist who always mastered whatever theme he was given, whether it was mystery, western, humour, action, - or in this case superheroes. 





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10 comments:

  1. Mark CarterMonday 2 February 2015 at 16:33:00 GMT

    Is this Tom Kerr the same artist who used to illustrate the Lady Penelope and Monkees annuals back in the day? The style looks very similar.

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  2. Lew StringerMonday 2 February 2015 at 17:44:00 GMT

    Yes, that's him. He drew loads of strips over the years for various comics from Lion to Look-In. You'll find some more pages by him on older posts on my blog if you put his name in the search windows.

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  3. John PittMonday 2 February 2015 at 22:22:00 GMT

    Thanks for sharing this, Lew. Never seen it before!
    How's this for a forgotten UK super-hero :-
    Thorpe & Porter's Miracle Man (and Supercoat) !?!?

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  4. KeithMonday 2 February 2015 at 23:18:00 GMT

    I recognise the character with the red scarf in the bottom left corner of the cover....have a feeling he was in a shiver and shake annual(?).

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  5. Lew StringerTuesday 3 February 2015 at 00:00:00 GMT

    That's the great Grimly Feendish, Keith. He had his own strip in Smash! every week which Shiver and Shake later reprinted (plus they added new ones I think). You'll find more about him in older posts by putting his name in the search window.

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  6. Lew StringerTuesday 3 February 2015 at 00:02:00 GMT

    John, I had a copy of T&P's Miracle Man. Not sure if I still have it but if I do I'll show a few pages here sometime.

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  7. Steve MarchantTuesday 3 February 2015 at 13:38:00 GMT

    I, for one, welcome our new Thog overlords...
    Hope you uncover some more forgotten superheroes soon, Lew.

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  8. Lew StringerTuesday 3 February 2015 at 15:27:00 GMT

    Thanks Steve. So much forgotten stuff, so little time.

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  9. Colin BrownWednesday 4 February 2015 at 11:15:00 GMT

    The thing I love about this blog is that it's really making me appreciate artists who I took for granted when I was young. I have clear memories of Tom Kerr's Bilko strip in TV21 and Solo and the Crowther and Fenn St Gang ones in Look-In. It's great to see all the other work he did. More please Lew.

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  10. Lew StringerWednesday 4 February 2015 at 11:32:00 GMT

    I'll be showing more of Tom Kerr's work soon Colin.

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