Created by: J. K. Melwyn-Nash (pseudonym of
Marcel Navarro) (1919- )
Scripts:
Franco Frescura
Art: Luciano
Bernasconi
Wampus is the story of an alien monster with shapeshifting
powers who has been sent by an evil cosmic intelligence -- the "Great
Intellect" -- to destroy Earth. He is discovered and pursued by French
secret agent, Jean Sten. In the course of six issues,
Wampus causes havoc and destruction in France, Germany, New York, Tokyo,
London (which is destroyed by a tactical nuclear device) and Spain.
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1. Wampus |
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Wampus was originally published in 1969 by Editions Lug in Lyons (France) in six digest-sized magazines. The series was discontinued after only six issues because of censorship problems. The final episode was eventually serialized in "Ombrax", another of Lug's magazines. The same concept was then reprised as L'Autre [The Other], in "Futura". Wampus is currently being reprinted as a back-up feature in "Rodeo". |
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Lyon-based journalist and writer Marcel Navarro (1919- ) started his career in comics working for the Lyons-based comic book publisher S.A.G.E. during World War II. There he met Robert Bagage (the future founder of Editions Imperia) and Pierre Mouchotte (the publisher of "Fantax"). These three men eventually became almost single-handedly responsible for the "small format" publishing phenomenon of the 1950s and 1960s. After the war, Navarro created the character of Secret Agent Z.302 (drawn by Bagage) for Éditions Sprint. Then, in 1946, he contributed stories to Chott's Fantax. Finally, he co-founded the Aventures & Voyages publishing house, which published a number of children's adventure stories. In 1950, Navarro teamed up with Auguste Vistel to create Éditions Lug, which became one of the leading publisher of French and Italian digest-sized comics and, starting in 1969, French editions of Marvel Comics. It is in this capacity that Navarro (using the pseudonyms of "J. K. Melwyn-Nash" or" Malcolm Naughton") co-created and/or edited a number of popular characters such as the western avenger, Ombrax (Alan Mistero in Italy), the Tarzan-like Zembla and a number of super-heroes such as Rakar, Dick Demon, Wampus and, later, Mikros and Photonik. Navarro also wrote a special episode of Marvel's Silver Surfer, especially drawn by Jean-Yves Mitton for the French market (the subject of a forthcoming article written by Jean-Marc Lofficier for "Alter Ego" #1.) In 1989, Marcel Navarro retired and Editions Lug was sold to SEMIC. Franco Frescura is an Italian writer, who also wrote Rakar and Mister Song. Luciano Bernasconi is an Italian artist. After Wampus, Bernasconi drew L'Autre, Bob Lance, Waki, Jeff Sullivan, Kabur, the Bronze Gladiator, etc., all for Editions Lug. |
