Move over, Christopher Nolan – Jordi Bernet’s “Ulysses” has our attention!
As Christopher Nolan‘s eagerly anticipated film of Homer’s Odyssey is due to be released this week, how about a bit of comics nostalgia: “Ulysses The Wanderer” a strip drawn by the legendary Jordi Bernet, simply crying out for collection, first published in Victor back in 1966?
Comic archivist Philip Rushton reminded fans of this strip over the weekend, which made its debut in the weekly Victor comic, Issue 261, cover dated 19th February 1966 (a free gift promoted issue, a football game), through to No. 276, cover dated 25th June 1966
The writer is unknown, noted on the indispensable Victor Hornet Index Site as one of the “editorial team”, and was one of several “Sword and Sandals” strips centred on Greek and Roman legends, commissioned by DC Thomson for their then many weekly comic titles
These include “Hercules the Strong”, featured inThe New Hotspur, possibly drawn by Ron Smith,“The Man Who Saved Rome” (Victor Issues 221-232) and “Lycidia the Spartan” (Victor Issues 322 – 334), also drawn by Bernet; and “Jason and his Terrible Tasks”, drawn by J T Higson, who was also the first artist to draw “The Wolf of Kabul” for the New Hotspur
Victor also featured similarly themed text and illustration stories such as “Theseus Prince of Athens”, published in June 1963. “Philippides, the Runner from Marathon”, featured as both an illustrated story, in Wizard in 1959, and as a strip for Hotspur in 1967
While The Odyssey has been the focus of an amazing comic PSYComics project recently, from Laurence Allison, Simon Harrison and the late Vu Danh, Victor’s “Ulysses The Wanderer” takes a more traditional approach to its storytelling. But it is still notable for its art by Batman and Jonah Hex artist Jordi Bernet, of Torpedo 1936 fame, whose classic British comic credits include “Legend Testers” for Smash!, released as a collection by Rebellion earlier this year (AmazonUK Affiliate Link).
“This series was especially interesting in that it did away with the gods, magic and monsters of the original altogether, producing a scrupulously realistic version of the story instead,” Philip notes of “Ulysses the Wanderer”. “Thus Circe uses hypnotism to make men act like animals, the Sirens are a race of predatory islanders who lure sailors with the music of conch shells, the six serpentine heads of the monster Scylla turn out to be the tentacles of a giant squid.”
Polyphemus the Cyclops, featured in the example below, is simply shown as an extraordinarily strong mortal who’s no more than seven or eight feet tall
“In effect this is presented as a ‘real life’ adventure,” Philip comments,” that might have inspired all the extravagant myths we’ve since become familiar with.”
The Genius of Jordi Bernet
Jordi Bernet has received every comic-book award that may be received outside of Spain, including the Eisner Award
Born into a family of cartoonists and scriptwriters, Jordi Bernet made his professional debut at the age of just 15, when he took over his father’s job on Doña Urraca, one of Spain’s post war most popular cartoon strips. A self-thought artist, he learnt to draw under his father’s desk while he was working on his weekly pages, and his itch to follow in the footsteps of Frank Robbins, Noel Sickles, Toth, Milton Caniff, Alex Raymond or Hal Foster, his favourite comic creators, was always strong.
Gaining vital experience assisting Jordi Buxade, he approached Bardon Art in 1963, who put him to work on westerns and adventure stories for the British market, mostly for Victor, although also including work for Hornet, Smash!, Tiger and Lion
“I especially remember some stories about Romans which were exhausting to produce,” he recalled in an interview with Paul Gravett
Other strips drawn for Victor include Western strips such as “The Guns that Won the West” (Issues 150 – 163) and “The Town Tamers” (Issues 191 – 203) and he also drew one issue of Commando, number 190, “They Call Him Yellow”
For Odhams and Fleetway in London, he drew action heroes like Rollo Stones and Danny Charters, aka “The Legend Testers” in Smash!and “Jungle Jak” in Lion
Bernet grew disenchanted with the British system. “I never got my original pages back; that was one of the reasons I quit the British market to move to Spirou,” he explained to Paul Gravett. The Belgian weekly needed fresh blood in 1968 due to falling sales, and the departure of several of its key artists for rival title Tintin.
As Paul notes, Bernet continued to refine his dramatic black-and-white draughtsmanship on Spirou, strongly influenced by Johnny Hazard artist Frank Robbins, who would became a good friend. Bernet’s principal Spirou series were secret agent “Dan Lacombe”, also written by his uncle Cussó, and supernatural investigator “Paul Foran”, though this required them to work uncredited within a Spanish team
The late 1960s and 70s saw Jordi work published mainly outside of Spain, not only working on Spirou but on “Wat 69” and “Andrax” in Germany, and “L´ultimo sceriffo” and “Magua” in Italy
The 1980s and 90s saw the peak of his creative career, working alongside some of the best writers in European comics at the time. Torpedo 1936 remains his most famous and universally recognised work
Most of his body of work has since enjoyed great success in most of Europe, including Kraken, Custer, Light & Bold, Historias Negras, Cicca Dum-Dum and Snake
His adult weekly strip Clara de Noche (Betty by Night) began in 1992, ending in 2015 with over 1100 two-page stories produced, published in titles such as the satirical magazine El Jueves, as well as in paperback editions all over the world
The appreciation of his work by critics and industry professionals led him to finally break into American mainstream comics. Although first published in the US in 1973, when he drew the Gardner Fox short shocker “Revenge of the Unliving” for Marvel’s monster magazine Vampire Tales, little work there followed, but in 2000 he drew his first Batman story
Since then, he was worked for DC Comics on several projects such as Jonah Hex, The Spirit and several other Batman stories
• More about Jordi Bernet (and other Spanish artists) online at artcoholics.net
Jordi Bernet: British Comic Credits
• Guns that Won the West, The Victor 150 – 163, written by John Thomas Edson• The Town Tamers, The Victor 191 – 203, written by John Thomas Edson• The Man Who Saved Rome, The Victor, 221 – 232, writer unknown • The Town Tamers, Victor Book For Boys 1966, written by John Thomas Edson• Ulysses the Wanderer, The Victor, 261 – 275, writer unknown • The Legend Testers, Smash!, 1 – 75, written by Graham Baker)• Lycidas the Spartan, The Victor, 322 – 334, writer unknown The Sacred Kaross, The Victor, 333 – 339, writer unknown• The Courage of the Mountain Man, The Victor, 353, writer unknown • Jungle Jak, Lion and Champion, various issues, reprinted in Spain as Jak de la Jungla, Selecciones Vértice aventuras, Ediciones Internacionales, #21, Vértice, 1968
Plus Commando 190, “They Call Him Yellow”, and various historical adventures for The Hornet, for DC Thomson, and Tiger, for Fleetway, between 1965-1967
Artists that worked through Bardon Art were (Lambiek links): Antoni Bancells Pujadas, José Luis Beltrán, Luis Bermejo, Jordi Bernet, Joaquin Blázquez, Joan Boix, Daniel Branca, Alberto Breccia, Enrique Cerdan, Francisco Cueto, César Ferioli, Emilio Frejo Abregón, Albert Garcia, Andrés Klacik, Rafael Lopez Espi, Jordi Macabich, Jaime Mainou, Bruno Marraffa, Esteban Maroto, Josep Marti, Joan Marti, José Mascaro, Angel Nadal, Nin, Jordi Pineda, Francisco Rodriguez Peinado, Rojas, Ales Salas, Leopoldo Sanchez, Tino Santanach, Santiago Scalabroni Ceballos, Trini Tinturé, Francisco Torá, Juan Torres Perez, Adolfo Usero, Vicar, Xuasus.
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John Freeman
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who MagazineandOverkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood
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Categories: British Comics, British Comics – Current British Publishers, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
Tags: Adventure Comics, DC Thomson, downthetubes News, Hotspur, Jordi Bernet, Legend Testers, Philip Rushton, The Odyssey, Ulysses, Victor
