As previously established I’ve always been intrigued by Garth, the UK’s newspaper plainclothes lowercase superman. So far I’ve mostly been able to read the later Frank Bellamy version but thanks to the Atlas reprints from Australia I’ve had a chance to see the work of original artist John Allard, Although frequently compared to Superman (though me, I’ve always thought Garth owed more to a pre-Time Top Brick Bradford) Allard always sited Terry and the Pirates as being more of an influence on the strip and, boy, can you see that in The Quest for the Q Ray.

It’s a rollicking Boys Own Adventure full of a lost cities and master criminals, supercomputers and of course, the titular Q Ray. It’s painfully old-fashioned, in the best way possible.