Preview: The Return Of The Man With The Steel Claw In ‘Reign Of The Brain’
by Richard Bruton
The second volume of one of those wonderfully strange, beautifully drawn Brit comic series of old comes your way this November with The Steel Claw: Reign Of The Brain!
Written by Tom Tully and with art by the masterful Jesus Blasco, Reign of the Brain features two stories reprinted in this Treasury of British Comics’ edition for the very first time, plus the chance to grab the webshop-exclusive Brian Bolland cover of the hardback edition.
Reign of the Brain includes Tully’s first two Steel Claw stories, originally published in the comic Valiant between 1963 and 1964, accompanied by the stunning and vibrant realistic black and white artwork of Blasco, an artist who was so creative, so revered – his work here is so good, so great, making the storylines flow so beautifully well across the two pages of each episode, yet still blowing readers old and young away with his composition and flare.
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, The Steel Claw is perhaps the epitome of what makes Brit comics of old so wonderfully unhinged, original and ridiculous, completely different from the colourful superheroes of America. In here you have the pleasure of seeing more of the adventures of a total sociopath who turns himself into a superspy hero just because he can, it’s the return of the egomaniac who can turn himself invisible but needs to electrocute himself every time he wants to use his powers.
Like I say, it’s wonderfully ridiculous stuff, a villain turned sort of hero, full of over-the-top situations and yet so beautifully drawn, with Blasco’s amazing layouts and renditions completely stealing the show.
The Steel Claw Volume 2 – Written by Tom Tully, art by Jesus Blasco. Published by The Treasury Of British Comics on 9th November 2022.
Choose from the standard paperback version or the exclusive Rebellion/Treasury of British Comics hardcover version with a Brian Bolland cover.
Now, as you’d expect from a preview… a preview of the first episodes of the second volume of The Steel Claw, still one of Britain’s strangest sort-of superhero series…
