Free Strip Magazine

I arrived late to Free Comic Book Day at First Age Comics, Lancaster, because I had attended the May Day March on the theme of Save Our Hospital. Comics fans in costume, including a Wonder Woman, came out to wave the march as it went past. All that was left free by the time I got there was one copy of the Lancaster-published Strip Magazine Double Size Special, no 5/6, and I had missed editor/writer John Freeman signing them.

As with a lot of people, anthology mags are not my preferred reading matter even though I know that all the important characters started in anthologies. Strip Magazine has extremely good art although it is not always easy to follow stories that are episodes of serials. I was surprised at the length of a couple of the episodes: 24 pages for "The Devil's Heritage" and 20 for "Age of Heroes" written by James Hudnall whose name I recognise from The Unauthorized Biography Of Lex Luthor.

"The Devil's Heritage" mentions the painting with the inscription "Et in Arcadia ego." Adding the verb "sum" makes the sentence an anagram for "Tango arcam Dei, Iesu", "I touch the tomb of God, Jesus."

Comics are a medium that need not be published by the Big Two or their imitators and that can present works of fiction in any genre without having to conform to any comics universe continuities so it is good to have horizons broadened by publications like Strip Magazine.