I SPY [2] the Les Barton Period
THESE 'I SPY' ENTRIES should really be called:
1969 in 1989....in 2015
because they are cartoons I done 20 years after seeing the original I SPY strips: for about 20 years, I had absolutely no material or archive files on this character at all, not even a grainy photocopy---how times change, the stories existed only in my memory-banks.......so this explains why my recollections in drawing form here are so off-model; everything springs from my own personal memories of I SPY. I picked up the annual stories again in the early 90s, and I obtained the full run of Les Barton era SPARKY I SPY comics in March 2007.
No serious appreciation of I SPY [the strip and character] seems to have been taken up by anyone [ and indeed, SPARKY comic has been very much ignored within established Comic History until relatively recently] until June 1987, in which BRITISH COMIC WORLD [issue 5] put out a very well-written, well-illustrated, multiple-page assesment on the achievements of the Barton period of I SPY, which I caught up with much later: this one is a well-worthy primer to the series, there is an enthusiasm for the subject that really shines through here, and it appears to have been written by arch-guru UK comics enthusiast Ray Moore aka kashgar, whose encyclopaedic knowledge on the wider British comics field far surpasses mine.
Much later on, I myself wrote two in-depth pieces on I SPY on the excellent COMICS UK specialist forum: these were threads entitled I SPY: the first epic serial, and also I SPY; the second epic series. These are lengthy threads that go into considerable detail regarding the early incarnation of the character. I also had six-page article published in 2010 in CRIKEY! specialist-comics magazine, which covered the Barton era. However: the last word on I SPY in terms of Historical Coverage is surely Alan Smiths' [no relation] exhaustive, compelling and hyper-enthusiastic THE I SPY YEARS , which as far as I know only exists as a WORD document: this details every episode of the character ever undertaken, and is certainly well worth seeking out for conniseurs of British Comicdom.
Anyway, here's a potted History of the Les Barton- era I SPY in the weekly SPARKY comic. The first [probably the best one: it seems that way, in the minds of many comics fans] unbroken run spanned issue 211 until 279: I make that 68 weeks, and the dates from start to finish were from Feb 1, 1969 through to May 23, 1970.
The first 14 weeks of the character were simplistic and modest in light of what was to follow later, these one-page efforts are highly-entertaining and perhaps look inspired by SPY versus SPY, a Prohias strip from MAD Magazine. The visuals and concepts in these are great, with early villians including Slinky Snitchovitch and Karate Chip. For the record, the first I Spy villain was Hoots McBagpipes of Sporran [!] Mr X 's debut appearance was in a two-parter and this Victorian Vagabond quickly became the strips' resident top-villain.
Later one-pagers expanded into three-instalment assignments, and characteristic of the very early, very silly stories were continued-next- week undertakings like THE SQUADRON of SUPER-IRONS and the last of the extended one-page three-parters, THE SUPER STICKY TOFFEE AFFAIR. Fantastic start to a fantastic character and concept!
The series quickly 'went double-page spread' proving it was very popular, and very admirably, the format evolved equally quickly, keeping the very silly knockabout-comedy elements, but adding in a more vital, sometimes serious tone, to the outlandish events. Melodrama and Danger come much more into the fore by this stage, enhancing the reading delight much more considerably. The concept constantly evolves, with different-looking artwork throughout: it's all teriffic stuff, though: the reader never knows quite what to expect next: in this respect, I SPY was an anti-formulaic concern, and perhaps that is why it stood out from the collective comics pack.
The first extended serial was entitled I SPY versus the Incredible MR X, which ran to eight action-packed weeks. Here, Mr X unleashes an army of I SPY-inspired robots against civilization. This story is my absolute favorite comics story ever, even eclipsing the ambitious scenarios sometimes seen in 2000 AD comic: episode 5 espcially is an extremely vital, hyper-impressive imaginative chase-scene, with an explosive ending: and overall, this tall tale has never been equalled, and never topped......regarding my own personal comic-tastes.
Serial Two also ran for eight weeks, the arch-fiend here was one MAHAIREE YOGI [some subversion there?] who instigates the globe-trotting yarn I SPY and the Fantasmagor Diamond Hunt. Highlights here include charging elephants, vast underground caverns, Abominable Snowmen, Twin-Peaked Moutains---and Mahairees' lethal animated beard [!] Not quite up to the previous MR X outing, but still awash with plenty to soothe the avid I SPY follower.
Next up was the six-part I SPY versus AYE Mc Spy, the Tartan Terror. This one is easily the most overtly comic, Scottish-anachronism-ridden, deliberately silly entry of the continued serials. There is still World Domination at the heart of the proceedings however, as Aye McSpy's patent recipe for Paralyzing Porridge becomes the centre of attention for recurring spy-villians MR X, Mahairee Yogi, Karate Chip and Slinky Snitchovitch. Other delights include spy-eating haggises, a motorized caber and ---a flying carpet [!] Very imaginitive stuff indeed, with a solid story at the heart of the intense insanity.
The early-series days entries dips in quality just the once, in the not-quite-up-to-par 5-parter I SPY and his T-T-TERRIBLE GRANNY. The title on this one surely says it all, really: Granny Spy is too obviously played for obvious laughs, as her debut outing shares guest billing with this serials ' star villain CAMMY FLAGE, an expert in disguise: not really a bad story as such, just unremarkable within the context of the usual high standards by now set into the I SPY concept: more on par with most other comic stories put out a the time. On the plus side: we get the usual great artwork from Barton throughout, and a well-worthy final instalment, as I Spy, Boss and Granny take on Cammy in his stolen Gerry Anderson-like SUPERTANK in an ancient jallopy, which nevertheless has shell-firing capabilities.
THE STANDARDS RETURN to the usual high-water mark hallmark that represents early I SPY in the truly teriffic five-parter I SPY versus MISTER TEMPEST: here, the Doctor No-like Mr Tempest inflicts his hand-held weather-altering frequency device against I SPY and civilization in general: he needs to create chaotic situations like Ice-Age conditions to provide cover for his many bank-robberies: he craves Gold Bullion in order to run his fiendish ;sun-blotting' device, which succeeds ii the final episode, plunging the World into darkness for one year. Other highlights include raging whirlwinds and devastating Eartquakes: all depicted most dramatically,within tiny frames of comic incident. Very Impressive stuff indeed.
NEXT UP WAS THE FOUR-PART I SPY and the FANTAS-MAGORIAN: this story spanned the sixties and seventies decades, and it isn't bad at all, even if it's a sort-of rerun of the events in T-T-Terrible Granny: perhaps it's the welcome re-appearance of top-drawer villain MR X, which elevates this story above the more nondescript Cammy Flage story seen earlier. Even Granny Spy fails to halt the usual exuberance seen in this-period I SPY: in this one, the diabolical Mr X forces boffins to build a vast, seemingly invincible all-out War Machine, which soon takes out the entire British Forces. It's up to I SPY to manipulate Mother Nature in order to thwart the Fantasmagorian Machine.
At this point, SPARKY rebranded itself [this happened regularly with old SPARKY] yet again, and further healthy dividends arising from this was the decision to upgrade I SPY further still, benefitting the strip even furter still, ensuring it ran for an impressive [in those days] three pages, which once again greatly affected the overall look of the strip, offering up more possibilities for panel experimentation, and as I stated earlier, this concept was so malleable and imaginitive, the reader had simply no idea where on Earth the next story was going to be set: it truly was the revealing of an unseen new World, lapping up this sterling stuff every week: no other comics strip in British History ever impressed me as much as the first-run I SPY adventure block: and this period of 1969-70 was a time of very high standards within comics production,---from ALL publishing houses------ at least compared to what we are left with today.
The first of the I SPY three-pagers went yet another, unchartered-territory- approach: this time exploring the concept of Big Business, with the Howard Hughes-on-barbituates-like brand-new villian, MR MASTERMIND, who, in the estimation of some long-time I SPY fans, carved out the most memorable niche of all the Gallery of spy-villians seen in the strip. ....even eclipsing MR X in the viewpoint of some.
This excellent tale was entitled I SPY and the AMAZING MASTERMIND MACHINES, which ran for six very entertaining episodes. Mastermind cut a striking dash, with his tasteful palate and coffuired hairstyle: not content with being a Pound Billionairre [and a Billion Pounds really WAS a lot back in 1970!] he has his sights firmly set on World Domination, and to this end, he tries to win over I Spy himself, rather than have some messy slug-out with him later on. Our hero sends him packing of course, ejecting him uncerimoniously into his waiting Rolls Royce........MM is seething with fury of course, and initiates his plans to eliminate I Spy forever before going on to conquer the World.
His vast wealth through electronics and engineering corporate take-overs has seen him supply all sorts of vending machines and automated services all through the Globe: unknown by anyone else until it is too late, his machines all contain lethal Dalek-like [or I Spy-like, now to mention it] inner warfare extensions, which the demented Mastermind controls by remote-control means. His strategy is so wide-spread and encompassing that he basically initiates a kind of clandestine, unexpected World War 3, in which his heavy-artillellery-ized, innocent-looking machines manage to overpower the combined forces of the World's Armies, which makes Mastermind more adept at actually attaining World Domination that even Mr X was: in a scenario that proves very unusual for a mainstream comic such as SPARKY to put out, the villain actually manages to take control of the Planet!
Not for long, though: during his King of the World Ceromony, the robed Mastermind awaits his Ceremonial Crowning from his thugs: but the in-hiding I SPY manages to 'crown' him, all right! Another excellent I SPY story, with our hero saving civilization from Masterminds' machines by getting them to march into the sea.
Next up was yet another departure for the series: the seven-part I SPY and the BAFFLING MR X MYSTERY, as was now customary within the approach of the take-a-risk-at- all-cost writing approach on the scripts, and as such, this was no rerun of the early winner I SPY versus the Incredible Mr X, but instead goes off on yet another new tangent. In all possibility this one has the most absurd premise of the entire [early] lot: Mr X attains mysterious Poltergeist-like powers, which enable him to not only escape jail, but also to rob banks with ease as if he were controlling some sort of 'invisible army'. The top-hatted ones' ambitions result in disabling Army Tanks with ease, and eventually he strikes such fear into the Establishment that he manages to dictate terms to the now-Puppet British Cabinet, and he goes on to unleash the Establishment of his Personal Terror Army, made up of compliant ex-jail convicts.
I Spy is hard at work trying to unravel the source of MR X's mysterious powers, and------- -in a brilliantly surreal episode almost entirely centered around a bizarre scientific experiment involving poor Boss enduring a fully-clothed BATH while all Hell is erupting all around, as MR X's puppet Army is blitzing SPY HQ--------the source of MR X's invincibility is finally revealed: the deviant is remote radio-controlling a vast army of almost-invisible FLEAS to do his bidding! 'Spy Spray' in vast cans save the day, with MR X finally cornered at the Houses of Parliament: rather than face yet another jail-term, he smashes clean through the vast clock-face of Big Ben, plummeting into the Freezing Thames.
In all honesty, this tale tends to drag on a bit in some bits , however the balance is easily redressed by some of the finest artwork within the Barton tenure, much of which takes on an almost Political Cartoon-looking ambience. This story also boasts the finest intros of the entire canon, with very elaborate Newspaper Headline motifs heralding each new instalment, in the guise of the very convincing-looking THE DAILY SPY.
THE FINAL LES BARTON I SPY serial------though none of us fans realized this at the time-------was the six-part extravaganza OPERATION I SPY/ OPERATION GRAB. and it has to be said that this story represents the absolute Maturity and Pinnacle regarding the execution of these brilliantly=plotted stories: in fact, a commentator other than myself is proudly on record stating that this is 'easily the most impressive comic-story ever discovered within the pages of a humor comic' : and who am I to argue? This story reveals just how far the concept had evolved since the early one-pagers, from just over a year earlier: the early stories were great, but by now, the character and story expectations had taken off into the Comics Stratosphere, and although all of the stories of the entite 60-odd weeks are bona-fide I SPY just as surely as the Proverbial Blackpool Rock, there is no doubt that the ambience and urgency of this final story is such as to make it almost unrecognizable from the early days.
For a start, there is hardly any real humor at all anywhere evident throughout the whole story: I have revisited this one loads of times, and the only 'humorous' incident I can recall is when Mastermind dives head-first into a waste-basket during a bombing-blitz. This tale is deliberately written as a very sombre and sober psychological drama, it is a very bleak, downbeat story that reveals a wholly devastating, quite emotional ending. This is all from a strip that began as a farce-like cartoon comedy! A quite admirable, unexpected and affecting piece that proves once and for all that I SPY--at least in the early days------was a true formulae-defier unlike anything else in British Comics.
Essentially, this story introduces Mastermind adressing assembled spy-foes MAHAIREE YOGI, CAMMY FLAGE and MISTER TEMPEST [none of whose identities are clearly obvious as yet] as he voices his intentions to wreak vengeance on I SPY: which he does to devastating effect in the opening salvo. An Invincible Robot launches an all-out attack on SPY HQ, with such vigor that even our hero struggles to contain the situation , even with his endless gadgetry. The 'MATIC-MAN' Robot flees with crime scene with the captive Boss, and I SPY manages to locate the pair at a clifftop at sundown, however the pathetic figure of Boss is fatally hurled over the vast cliffs, despite I SPY's valiant efforts to halt the killing: the debut episode ends with our hero returning to Spy HQ, swearing to get revenge on whoever done this: however the alarming final frame sees the still-healthy Boss back at the now un-destroyed SPY HQ, enquiring where on Earth he has been all night........
------the mystery deepens as I SPY descends into understandable paranoia, undergoing psychological tests: to compound his problems, film is uncovered of him robbing Bullion from a bank. Convicted at the Old Baily, he is sentenced to ten years Imprisonment-------and stripped of his gadget arsenal. In jail, he meets a friendly old lag Smoggit, who helps him to escape jail [some of his 'stripped gadgets' went un-noticed by the Authorities, it transpires] but not before discovering the existance of a clever MASTERMIND robo-dopplelganger, who has taken the place of the real villain. Back at SPY HQ, ---and by now fully aware he had been elaborately framed and jailed for crimes he did not commit---------I SPY slips effortlessly into 'suit number two' which is just as well, for by this time, Mastermind has unleashed his new Army of huge Matic-Men who are not only decimating HM Forces but are systematically looting the Nations' assets.
By now, I SPY and Boss have established that Mastermind has used special radio-controlled 'homing flowers' so his Matic-Men can locate and destroy specific targets: the pair track the remaining three villains Mastermind/Mahairee/ Tempest: Flage had been confronted the previous episode] down to Masterminds' crumbling castle-lair, which sets the scene for the final Barton weekly episode: this was a four-pager, which is no big deal compared to todays' splash-styled formatting we are well accustomed to in the pages of 2000 AD, but four pages in a 'kids' humor comic' for a 'humorous adventure story' was unheard of in 1970.
The final Barton-era instalment is easily the most Apocalyptic serving of I SPY ever put out: not my own personal favorite in the entire canon, but this one is a genuine tour de force of explosive action, pathos, melodrama and tragedy, and is more than likely the most memorable instalment of the saga ever published. I SPY is assaulted full-on by a squad of lethal Matic Men, who are breaching even his top-quality reinforced everything-proof brolly: springing to safety high above the danger zone, he rockets onwards into the heart of Masterminds' delapidated castle, placing a bag of the transistorized 'homing flowers' into the mantle-piece hearth. Masterminds' deadly robots start blitzing the castle with lethal shell-fire, prompting the main villian to switch off his Robots and recall them in for safetys' sake: I Spy and Boss trick their way into the premises admidst the confusion.
As the three villains take stock, our two heroes hastily prepare to sabotage the dormant robots, with wired-in high explosives attached to their innards via sticks of dinamite: I SPY forces the hesitant Boss to vacate the dangerous situation by literally booting him out of the window. Just as I SPY is finished his deadly sabotage, Mahairee Yogi recovers [after being K-O'D by I SPY earlier on ] , reporting to his chief that his most deadly enemy is in the premises--------this provokes a knee-jerk reaction from Mastermind, who desperately, and unthinkingly, throws the Master-Switch connected to his Robot Army, the net result of this action being the whole shebang blows up sky-high to Kingdom Come, obliterating the entire building, all the desperado spies: along with I SPY himself, who never had sufficient time to clear the premise before the explosion.
The episode ends with a despondent Boss taking stock of the depressing situation, departing the smoking ruins of the devastated castle-lair, sobbing openly, reflecting how his top agent bravely stayed behind to finish off his dangerous work, in order to save the country from Masterminds' deadly intentions.
This was a completely unexpected, extremely abrupt, conclusion to the highly impressive ongoing true saga that made up this absolutely sterling body of top-quality British Comic Creativity, and although the story was not over yet by a long chalk, I feel the series never quite reached the escalating heights of the early Barton definitive.
MORE ON I SPY COMING UP:
below: an inking I done on some of the cast in 1989
I SPY/ BOSS SPY/ MR X/ MAHAIREE YOGI/ SLINKY SNITCHOVITCH/ KARATE CHIP characters all copyright of D C THOMSON and Co LTD, 2015
1969 in 1989....in 2015
because they are cartoons I done 20 years after seeing the original I SPY strips: for about 20 years, I had absolutely no material or archive files on this character at all, not even a grainy photocopy---how times change, the stories existed only in my memory-banks.......so this explains why my recollections in drawing form here are so off-model; everything springs from my own personal memories of I SPY. I picked up the annual stories again in the early 90s, and I obtained the full run of Les Barton era SPARKY I SPY comics in March 2007.
No serious appreciation of I SPY [the strip and character] seems to have been taken up by anyone [ and indeed, SPARKY comic has been very much ignored within established Comic History until relatively recently] until June 1987, in which BRITISH COMIC WORLD [issue 5] put out a very well-written, well-illustrated, multiple-page assesment on the achievements of the Barton period of I SPY, which I caught up with much later: this one is a well-worthy primer to the series, there is an enthusiasm for the subject that really shines through here, and it appears to have been written by arch-guru UK comics enthusiast Ray Moore aka kashgar, whose encyclopaedic knowledge on the wider British comics field far surpasses mine.
Much later on, I myself wrote two in-depth pieces on I SPY on the excellent COMICS UK specialist forum: these were threads entitled I SPY: the first epic serial, and also I SPY; the second epic series. These are lengthy threads that go into considerable detail regarding the early incarnation of the character. I also had six-page article published in 2010 in CRIKEY! specialist-comics magazine, which covered the Barton era. However: the last word on I SPY in terms of Historical Coverage is surely Alan Smiths' [no relation] exhaustive, compelling and hyper-enthusiastic THE I SPY YEARS , which as far as I know only exists as a WORD document: this details every episode of the character ever undertaken, and is certainly well worth seeking out for conniseurs of British Comicdom.
Anyway, here's a potted History of the Les Barton- era I SPY in the weekly SPARKY comic. The first [probably the best one: it seems that way, in the minds of many comics fans] unbroken run spanned issue 211 until 279: I make that 68 weeks, and the dates from start to finish were from Feb 1, 1969 through to May 23, 1970.
The first 14 weeks of the character were simplistic and modest in light of what was to follow later, these one-page efforts are highly-entertaining and perhaps look inspired by SPY versus SPY, a Prohias strip from MAD Magazine. The visuals and concepts in these are great, with early villians including Slinky Snitchovitch and Karate Chip. For the record, the first I Spy villain was Hoots McBagpipes of Sporran [!] Mr X 's debut appearance was in a two-parter and this Victorian Vagabond quickly became the strips' resident top-villain.
Later one-pagers expanded into three-instalment assignments, and characteristic of the very early, very silly stories were continued-next- week undertakings like THE SQUADRON of SUPER-IRONS and the last of the extended one-page three-parters, THE SUPER STICKY TOFFEE AFFAIR. Fantastic start to a fantastic character and concept!
The series quickly 'went double-page spread' proving it was very popular, and very admirably, the format evolved equally quickly, keeping the very silly knockabout-comedy elements, but adding in a more vital, sometimes serious tone, to the outlandish events. Melodrama and Danger come much more into the fore by this stage, enhancing the reading delight much more considerably. The concept constantly evolves, with different-looking artwork throughout: it's all teriffic stuff, though: the reader never knows quite what to expect next: in this respect, I SPY was an anti-formulaic concern, and perhaps that is why it stood out from the collective comics pack.
The first extended serial was entitled I SPY versus the Incredible MR X, which ran to eight action-packed weeks. Here, Mr X unleashes an army of I SPY-inspired robots against civilization. This story is my absolute favorite comics story ever, even eclipsing the ambitious scenarios sometimes seen in 2000 AD comic: episode 5 espcially is an extremely vital, hyper-impressive imaginative chase-scene, with an explosive ending: and overall, this tall tale has never been equalled, and never topped......regarding my own personal comic-tastes.
Serial Two also ran for eight weeks, the arch-fiend here was one MAHAIREE YOGI [some subversion there?] who instigates the globe-trotting yarn I SPY and the Fantasmagor Diamond Hunt. Highlights here include charging elephants, vast underground caverns, Abominable Snowmen, Twin-Peaked Moutains---and Mahairees' lethal animated beard [!] Not quite up to the previous MR X outing, but still awash with plenty to soothe the avid I SPY follower.
Next up was the six-part I SPY versus AYE Mc Spy, the Tartan Terror. This one is easily the most overtly comic, Scottish-anachronism-ridden, deliberately silly entry of the continued serials. There is still World Domination at the heart of the proceedings however, as Aye McSpy's patent recipe for Paralyzing Porridge becomes the centre of attention for recurring spy-villians MR X, Mahairee Yogi, Karate Chip and Slinky Snitchovitch. Other delights include spy-eating haggises, a motorized caber and ---a flying carpet [!] Very imaginitive stuff indeed, with a solid story at the heart of the intense insanity.
The early-series days entries dips in quality just the once, in the not-quite-up-to-par 5-parter I SPY and his T-T-TERRIBLE GRANNY. The title on this one surely says it all, really: Granny Spy is too obviously played for obvious laughs, as her debut outing shares guest billing with this serials ' star villain CAMMY FLAGE, an expert in disguise: not really a bad story as such, just unremarkable within the context of the usual high standards by now set into the I SPY concept: more on par with most other comic stories put out a the time. On the plus side: we get the usual great artwork from Barton throughout, and a well-worthy final instalment, as I Spy, Boss and Granny take on Cammy in his stolen Gerry Anderson-like SUPERTANK in an ancient jallopy, which nevertheless has shell-firing capabilities.
THE STANDARDS RETURN to the usual high-water mark hallmark that represents early I SPY in the truly teriffic five-parter I SPY versus MISTER TEMPEST: here, the Doctor No-like Mr Tempest inflicts his hand-held weather-altering frequency device against I SPY and civilization in general: he needs to create chaotic situations like Ice-Age conditions to provide cover for his many bank-robberies: he craves Gold Bullion in order to run his fiendish ;sun-blotting' device, which succeeds ii the final episode, plunging the World into darkness for one year. Other highlights include raging whirlwinds and devastating Eartquakes: all depicted most dramatically,within tiny frames of comic incident. Very Impressive stuff indeed.
NEXT UP WAS THE FOUR-PART I SPY and the FANTAS-MAGORIAN: this story spanned the sixties and seventies decades, and it isn't bad at all, even if it's a sort-of rerun of the events in T-T-Terrible Granny: perhaps it's the welcome re-appearance of top-drawer villain MR X, which elevates this story above the more nondescript Cammy Flage story seen earlier. Even Granny Spy fails to halt the usual exuberance seen in this-period I SPY: in this one, the diabolical Mr X forces boffins to build a vast, seemingly invincible all-out War Machine, which soon takes out the entire British Forces. It's up to I SPY to manipulate Mother Nature in order to thwart the Fantasmagorian Machine.
At this point, SPARKY rebranded itself [this happened regularly with old SPARKY] yet again, and further healthy dividends arising from this was the decision to upgrade I SPY further still, benefitting the strip even furter still, ensuring it ran for an impressive [in those days] three pages, which once again greatly affected the overall look of the strip, offering up more possibilities for panel experimentation, and as I stated earlier, this concept was so malleable and imaginitive, the reader had simply no idea where on Earth the next story was going to be set: it truly was the revealing of an unseen new World, lapping up this sterling stuff every week: no other comics strip in British History ever impressed me as much as the first-run I SPY adventure block: and this period of 1969-70 was a time of very high standards within comics production,---from ALL publishing houses------ at least compared to what we are left with today.
The first of the I SPY three-pagers went yet another, unchartered-territory- approach: this time exploring the concept of Big Business, with the Howard Hughes-on-barbituates-like brand-new villian, MR MASTERMIND, who, in the estimation of some long-time I SPY fans, carved out the most memorable niche of all the Gallery of spy-villians seen in the strip. ....even eclipsing MR X in the viewpoint of some.
This excellent tale was entitled I SPY and the AMAZING MASTERMIND MACHINES, which ran for six very entertaining episodes. Mastermind cut a striking dash, with his tasteful palate and coffuired hairstyle: not content with being a Pound Billionairre [and a Billion Pounds really WAS a lot back in 1970!] he has his sights firmly set on World Domination, and to this end, he tries to win over I Spy himself, rather than have some messy slug-out with him later on. Our hero sends him packing of course, ejecting him uncerimoniously into his waiting Rolls Royce........MM is seething with fury of course, and initiates his plans to eliminate I Spy forever before going on to conquer the World.
His vast wealth through electronics and engineering corporate take-overs has seen him supply all sorts of vending machines and automated services all through the Globe: unknown by anyone else until it is too late, his machines all contain lethal Dalek-like [or I Spy-like, now to mention it] inner warfare extensions, which the demented Mastermind controls by remote-control means. His strategy is so wide-spread and encompassing that he basically initiates a kind of clandestine, unexpected World War 3, in which his heavy-artillellery-ized, innocent-looking machines manage to overpower the combined forces of the World's Armies, which makes Mastermind more adept at actually attaining World Domination that even Mr X was: in a scenario that proves very unusual for a mainstream comic such as SPARKY to put out, the villain actually manages to take control of the Planet!
Not for long, though: during his King of the World Ceromony, the robed Mastermind awaits his Ceremonial Crowning from his thugs: but the in-hiding I SPY manages to 'crown' him, all right! Another excellent I SPY story, with our hero saving civilization from Masterminds' machines by getting them to march into the sea.
Next up was yet another departure for the series: the seven-part I SPY and the BAFFLING MR X MYSTERY, as was now customary within the approach of the take-a-risk-at- all-cost writing approach on the scripts, and as such, this was no rerun of the early winner I SPY versus the Incredible Mr X, but instead goes off on yet another new tangent. In all possibility this one has the most absurd premise of the entire [early] lot: Mr X attains mysterious Poltergeist-like powers, which enable him to not only escape jail, but also to rob banks with ease as if he were controlling some sort of 'invisible army'. The top-hatted ones' ambitions result in disabling Army Tanks with ease, and eventually he strikes such fear into the Establishment that he manages to dictate terms to the now-Puppet British Cabinet, and he goes on to unleash the Establishment of his Personal Terror Army, made up of compliant ex-jail convicts.
I Spy is hard at work trying to unravel the source of MR X's mysterious powers, and------- -in a brilliantly surreal episode almost entirely centered around a bizarre scientific experiment involving poor Boss enduring a fully-clothed BATH while all Hell is erupting all around, as MR X's puppet Army is blitzing SPY HQ--------the source of MR X's invincibility is finally revealed: the deviant is remote radio-controlling a vast army of almost-invisible FLEAS to do his bidding! 'Spy Spray' in vast cans save the day, with MR X finally cornered at the Houses of Parliament: rather than face yet another jail-term, he smashes clean through the vast clock-face of Big Ben, plummeting into the Freezing Thames.
In all honesty, this tale tends to drag on a bit in some bits , however the balance is easily redressed by some of the finest artwork within the Barton tenure, much of which takes on an almost Political Cartoon-looking ambience. This story also boasts the finest intros of the entire canon, with very elaborate Newspaper Headline motifs heralding each new instalment, in the guise of the very convincing-looking THE DAILY SPY.
THE FINAL LES BARTON I SPY serial------though none of us fans realized this at the time-------was the six-part extravaganza OPERATION I SPY/ OPERATION GRAB. and it has to be said that this story represents the absolute Maturity and Pinnacle regarding the execution of these brilliantly=plotted stories: in fact, a commentator other than myself is proudly on record stating that this is 'easily the most impressive comic-story ever discovered within the pages of a humor comic' : and who am I to argue? This story reveals just how far the concept had evolved since the early one-pagers, from just over a year earlier: the early stories were great, but by now, the character and story expectations had taken off into the Comics Stratosphere, and although all of the stories of the entite 60-odd weeks are bona-fide I SPY just as surely as the Proverbial Blackpool Rock, there is no doubt that the ambience and urgency of this final story is such as to make it almost unrecognizable from the early days.
For a start, there is hardly any real humor at all anywhere evident throughout the whole story: I have revisited this one loads of times, and the only 'humorous' incident I can recall is when Mastermind dives head-first into a waste-basket during a bombing-blitz. This tale is deliberately written as a very sombre and sober psychological drama, it is a very bleak, downbeat story that reveals a wholly devastating, quite emotional ending. This is all from a strip that began as a farce-like cartoon comedy! A quite admirable, unexpected and affecting piece that proves once and for all that I SPY--at least in the early days------was a true formulae-defier unlike anything else in British Comics.
Essentially, this story introduces Mastermind adressing assembled spy-foes MAHAIREE YOGI, CAMMY FLAGE and MISTER TEMPEST [none of whose identities are clearly obvious as yet] as he voices his intentions to wreak vengeance on I SPY: which he does to devastating effect in the opening salvo. An Invincible Robot launches an all-out attack on SPY HQ, with such vigor that even our hero struggles to contain the situation , even with his endless gadgetry. The 'MATIC-MAN' Robot flees with crime scene with the captive Boss, and I SPY manages to locate the pair at a clifftop at sundown, however the pathetic figure of Boss is fatally hurled over the vast cliffs, despite I SPY's valiant efforts to halt the killing: the debut episode ends with our hero returning to Spy HQ, swearing to get revenge on whoever done this: however the alarming final frame sees the still-healthy Boss back at the now un-destroyed SPY HQ, enquiring where on Earth he has been all night........
------the mystery deepens as I SPY descends into understandable paranoia, undergoing psychological tests: to compound his problems, film is uncovered of him robbing Bullion from a bank. Convicted at the Old Baily, he is sentenced to ten years Imprisonment-------and stripped of his gadget arsenal. In jail, he meets a friendly old lag Smoggit, who helps him to escape jail [some of his 'stripped gadgets' went un-noticed by the Authorities, it transpires] but not before discovering the existance of a clever MASTERMIND robo-dopplelganger, who has taken the place of the real villain. Back at SPY HQ, ---and by now fully aware he had been elaborately framed and jailed for crimes he did not commit---------I SPY slips effortlessly into 'suit number two' which is just as well, for by this time, Mastermind has unleashed his new Army of huge Matic-Men who are not only decimating HM Forces but are systematically looting the Nations' assets.
By now, I SPY and Boss have established that Mastermind has used special radio-controlled 'homing flowers' so his Matic-Men can locate and destroy specific targets: the pair track the remaining three villains Mastermind/Mahairee/ Tempest: Flage had been confronted the previous episode] down to Masterminds' crumbling castle-lair, which sets the scene for the final Barton weekly episode: this was a four-pager, which is no big deal compared to todays' splash-styled formatting we are well accustomed to in the pages of 2000 AD, but four pages in a 'kids' humor comic' for a 'humorous adventure story' was unheard of in 1970.
The final Barton-era instalment is easily the most Apocalyptic serving of I SPY ever put out: not my own personal favorite in the entire canon, but this one is a genuine tour de force of explosive action, pathos, melodrama and tragedy, and is more than likely the most memorable instalment of the saga ever published. I SPY is assaulted full-on by a squad of lethal Matic Men, who are breaching even his top-quality reinforced everything-proof brolly: springing to safety high above the danger zone, he rockets onwards into the heart of Masterminds' delapidated castle, placing a bag of the transistorized 'homing flowers' into the mantle-piece hearth. Masterminds' deadly robots start blitzing the castle with lethal shell-fire, prompting the main villian to switch off his Robots and recall them in for safetys' sake: I Spy and Boss trick their way into the premises admidst the confusion.
As the three villains take stock, our two heroes hastily prepare to sabotage the dormant robots, with wired-in high explosives attached to their innards via sticks of dinamite: I SPY forces the hesitant Boss to vacate the dangerous situation by literally booting him out of the window. Just as I SPY is finished his deadly sabotage, Mahairee Yogi recovers [after being K-O'D by I SPY earlier on ] , reporting to his chief that his most deadly enemy is in the premises--------this provokes a knee-jerk reaction from Mastermind, who desperately, and unthinkingly, throws the Master-Switch connected to his Robot Army, the net result of this action being the whole shebang blows up sky-high to Kingdom Come, obliterating the entire building, all the desperado spies: along with I SPY himself, who never had sufficient time to clear the premise before the explosion.
The episode ends with a despondent Boss taking stock of the depressing situation, departing the smoking ruins of the devastated castle-lair, sobbing openly, reflecting how his top agent bravely stayed behind to finish off his dangerous work, in order to save the country from Masterminds' deadly intentions.
This was a completely unexpected, extremely abrupt, conclusion to the highly impressive ongoing true saga that made up this absolutely sterling body of top-quality British Comic Creativity, and although the story was not over yet by a long chalk, I feel the series never quite reached the escalating heights of the early Barton definitive.
MORE ON I SPY COMING UP:
below: an inking I done on some of the cast in 1989
I SPY/ BOSS SPY/ MR X/ MAHAIREE YOGI/ SLINKY SNITCHOVITCH/ KARATE CHIP characters all copyright of D C THOMSON and Co LTD, 2015
Wonderfully summed up Rab! I know how much you adore this period of the strip and why the first big MR X Eight part story is tops for you. Such a shame that Les didn't carry on with the strip for at least another term! Alan.
ReplyDeleteHiya Alan; my writings on I SPY and Sparky comic are nowhere near as extensive as yours, but I simply HAD to add an assessment of this now-Historical character into this blog---they don't make 'em like THAT anymore....nossir!!
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