Friday 2 October 2009

Janus Stark - ashcan edition




I'm going to start looking at Mr Stark with this oddity.
I bought it quite a few years ago on eBay and its a collection of strips, shrunk down to about half the size of a British comic, with a card cover and the title crudely glued on.
The seller maintained he didn't know the origin of it, having bought it at a boot sale. Think he was telling porkies there - he was selling quite a few of these of various other characters both when i bought mine and after.
Anyway, despite it origins, its a handy way of getting a Janus fix all in one go. First strip is an origin tale but i'm unsure if its the very first episode, or a retelling from later.
Its quite along episode for its time, clocking in at 5 pages and has, in quick succesion, the staples of future tales: Janus' lock picking skills, his elastic body, his public performing, putting himself through ghastly ordeals to escape,his massive ego and - quite a regular occurance - bringing a crook to rights then distributing his wealth to those who need it while walking off into the distance.

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