The Return of Sexton Blake - New & Classic Crime Stories

"As brilliant as Holmes, as daring as Bond, the Jack Reacher of his day returns!"  The tag line on this cover of this magazine size collection of stories and comic tales definitely tries to draw in fans from detective, spy, and action genres - but after reading the stories in this special edition, I have to say - whoever came up with the tag isn't really far off from the truth!  To be honest, I had never heard of "Sexton Blake" prior to seeing this magazine advertised in Previews some months ago, but being a fan of detective stories, pulp-style tales, and comic books, I thought I'd give this one a chance.  Glad I did!

The Return of Sexton Blake is the perfect "jumping-on" point for people like me, who have never heard of the character and what to know more.  The magazine opens with a publishing history of Sexton Blake, written by Mark Hodder.  The history is much more extensive than one would think - with the first Blake story having been published in December 1893 in a cheap penny dreadful  ("cheaply produced newspaper-format weeklies," as described by Hodder) called The Halfpenny Marvel.  The author and creator of Sexton Blake was Harry Blyth, under the pseudonym of Hal Meredeth.  A year later, Blake stories began to appear in another one of those dreadfuls called Union Jack.  Because Blyth had sold his rights to the character when he was paid for the first story, the publishers of these dreadfuls were able to publish multiple stories of Sexton Blake by various authors.  Blake evolved over the decades, going from stories in those penny dreadfuls to having his own weekly booklet called The Sexton Blake Library, with each issue featuring its own novella-length tale.  Blake, who started out similar to Sherlock Holmes, eventually became more like James Bond.  He was featured in his own comic strip, and even had a multi-episode serial on BBC (which, according to Hodder, failed miserably).  With the television show a failure, that seemed to mark the end of Sexton Blake - until 2014, when Hodder (yes, the author of the article) authored the first sanctioned Sexton Blake story since 1978.  And now, here we are in 2021, and it appears there is yet one more attempt to breathe new life into Sexton Blake for new fans (which, I guess, would be me!).

The magazine features a multi-part comic tale called "Sexton Blake and the Terror of Troll Island," written by Bill Henry (whose real name was Chris Lowder) and drawn by Mike Dorey.  The story is very much in the vein of Holmes, insomuch as Blake and his assistant race to Troll Island after receiving a call from someone on the island claiming to be in danger.  Upon arrival on the island, they not only come across a dead body, but they find that the famous writer, Edgar Hollis, has gathered all of his ghost-writers on the same evening.  And that, of course, is when one of the butlers reveals to Blake that Hollis and his ghost-writers plan to kill him that evening!  Blake, of course, works his way through all of the suspects - another body turns up - a murder attempt is made - plenty of dangerous action and cliffhangers - and ultimately, Blake uncovers the truth and gets his man!  The art, in complete black and white, is filled with lots of shadows and shading, keeping the mood of the story very dark, which, of course, fits well with the whole murder-on-a-secluded-island-at-night-in-a-dreary-castle scenario.  It's an enjoyable tale for mystery fans - but what is truly interesting about the whole thing is that when it was originally published in Tornado magazine back in the late 1970s, it was a "Victor Drago" story and not "Sexton Blake"!  

As revealed in the next article in the magazine, by Karl Stock, the publisher known as IPC, wanted to revive Sexton Blake, and Lowder (Henry) and Dorey actually finished the first story, "Troll Island."  However, for reasons unknown (inability to secure the rights is the likely cause), at the last moment, just before it went to publication, the names had to be changed, and so Sexton Blake became Victor Drago.

Now, next in the magazine came a ten-page story starring Sexton Blake titled "The Death and Life of Sexton Blake."  Written by George Mann and drawn by Jimmy Broxton, this brand new comic tale of Sexton Blake features an old ploy - the detective fakes his own death in order to capture a criminal who will reveal himself once he thinks his nemesis is gone for good.  The artist renders Blake in the same fashion as the early comic artists did back in the day, and while not in black-and-white, the story is not told in full color either - instead, it features a duo tone (which I first experienced back when Renegade Press was publishing Ms. Tree comics back in the '80s), which is a process that uses limited use of only one or two colors - in this instance, orange and red.  It is a short story, relatively speaking, but it is fast-paced and filled with plenty of action, which makes you feel like you read a lot more than just 10 pages!

After a brief interview with George Mann, Mark Hodder returns to pen another article, this time focusing on the various artists who drew Blake throughout the years.  There is also an article that looks at the redesigning of "Sexton Blake" for the modern era, and finally, two reprints of stories from Penny Pictorial (1908) and Union Jack (1925).

The Return of Sexton Blake is a well-rounded introduction to the character, providing history, stories both old and new in both comic and prose format, and a look at the evolution of the character through the years.  I definitely felt much more knowledgeable about Blake after reading this magazine, and it definitely whet my appetite for more stories.  I hope Rebellion publishing will offer up more issues like this, with both old and new tales!

RATING:  9 misfired crossbows out of 10 for reviving a detective from the past and introducing him to a whole new world of fans like me!