*Archie: While Archie Comics are of course best known for their plethora of teen-comedy titles focused on their titular star, the publishers also have a stable of super-heroes whose history dates back as far as 1940. In the late Fifties, the company made their first serious attempt at a revival (the original runs having petered out more than a decade previously) with creations from the legendary Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. The Adventures of the Fly was once such, initially reminiscent of the original Captain Marvel (plucky orphan gains magical artefact enabling him to become a super-adult), but after the first few issues Simon & Kirby jumped ship, and Thomas Troy was retooled into an adult attorney, rapidly gaining both a distaff counterpart and romantic interest in Fly-Girl and a mystical enemy in the dishy but deadly Cat Girl. Illustrated at first by John Giunta then John Rosenberger, his adventures became engagingly reminiscent of the Silver Age Superman, with the occasional guest-shot by former Golden Age returnees the Black Hood and the Comet. Cancelled with issue #30, the series returned with #31 as Fly-Man, and switched from a competent and entertaining swipe of the Superman franchise to a legendarily clanking, tone-deaf and inept impersonation of the Marvel style, universally derided yet admired as some of the most amusingly bad comics ever made. Buy the first series, and be charmed and gently entertained; buy the second, and listen to the sound of your brains dribbling out of your ears. You have been warned… Illustrated is Simon & Kirby’s issue #2 GD+ £25. A completely updated list of our Fly/Fly-Man stock may be found in our catalogue.