Let's start off with a story that bridges old and new Vernon cases -Dene Vernon in The Green Skies.
I've taken a deep breath and clenched my teeth.
NOT scans but digital photos -yah! Boo! Sucks! You'll note dialogue pasted on scraps of papers. These are just the rough unedited pages. Much more in the way of solid black and cross-hatching is to be done. But WHAT is going on in 1942 London?
That last panel shows why, in The Thing Below, Vernon is recovering from injuries. Not that anyone will see that since the book was withdrawn due to "creator differences" (that story will be told one day. In the meantime here is a post on said book,
Dene Vernon From The Burning Heart To The Thing From Below
Firstly,his proper credit was “Dene Vernon. Ghost Investigator”. In the 1930s and 1940s the work of ghost investigators such as Harry Price [despite what people write about his work at Borley Rectory] and the great Elliott O’Donnell could be found reported on in national newspapers as well as on radio.
Gerald Swan changed all that. His comics introduced a whole group of paranormal/occult types fromKrakos The Egyptian to Robert Lovett:Back From The Dead [all subjects of Black Tower collections]. Vernon’s appearance in Thrill Comics No.1,April,1940,marked the very first truly supernatural strip series in British Comics.
Elliott O’Donnell (February 27, 1872 – May 8, 1965) was an Irish author known primarily for his books about ghosts. He claimed to have seen a ghost, described as an elemental figured covered with spots, when he was five years old. He also claimed to have been strangled by a mysterious phantom in Dublin.
He claimed descent from Irish chieftains of ancient times, including Niall of the Nine Hostages (the King Arthur of Irish folklore) and Red Hugh, who fought the English in the sixteenth century. O’Donnell was educated at Clifton College, Bristol, England, and Queen’s Service Academy, Dublin, Ireland.
In later life he became a ghost hunter, but first he traveled in America, working on a range in Oregon and becoming a policeman during the Chicago Railway Strike of 1894. Returning to England, he worked as a schoolmaster and trained for the theater. He served in the British army in World War I, and later acted on stage and in movies.
His first book, written in his spare time, was a psychic thriller titled For Satan’s Sake (1904). From this point onward, he became a writer. He wrote several popular novels but specialized in what were claimed as true stories of ghosts and hauntings. These were immensely popular, but his flamboyant style and amazing stories suggest that he embroidered fact with a romantic flair for fiction.
As he became known as an authority on the supernatural, he was called upon as a ghost hunter. He also lectured and broadcast (radio and television) on the paranormal in Britain and the United States. In addition to his more than 50 books, he wrote scores of articles and stories for national newspapers and magazines. He claimed “I have investigated, sometimes alone, and sometimes with other people and the press, many cases of reputed hauntings. I believe in ghosts but am not a spiritualist.”
Remember that bit about being strangled by a ghost [not unique in the lore itself]. This is what Denis Gifford wrote about Vernon’s first adventure:
“..Vernon spends the night in a haunted bedroom where a weary wanderer was found on the floor. ‘A gasp of horror came as they gazed on the terror-distorted features of the dead traveller!’ Vernon saves Dick from being throttled by a grinning black monster,chained by its neck since 1785. But he had to burn the house down to do it.”
The creator of the strip was Jock McCail who also drew oriental detective Ah Wong for Swan’s New Funnies [1940-1949], Darrell King Of The Secret Service in Thrill Comics [1940-48],New Funnies [1949] and Slick Fun [1950]. McCail also drew Get-Your-Man-Gilligan, a Western strip for the Amalgamated Press title Jolly between 1938-39.
Dene Vernon ran as a strip between 1940-1946 so must have been popular -as many of the Swan horror strips were.
But, in 2011, Vernon featured in his first adventure since 1946. Yes, post-war Britain was the setting for…
DENE VERNON -THE THING FROM BELOW!
I think over 60 years was a long enough rest for him -and THE THING FROM BELOW was enough of atough task for him but...well, his final fate in The Green Skies is really ...."gutting"
hehehehehe er, Sorry.
Remember the name, though: Dene Vernon!
Dene Vernon (The A-Z Files) 1 - 3
A4
B&w
28pp
£8.00
“The Ghost Hunter” “The Demon Stalker” “The Walker Amongst The Dead” “The Man of Dark Mystery” -he was called many things by journalists in his time. If he heeded a call for help then that person was saved...or doomed. Whether in the East End slums, Corridors of Power or mansions of the Blue Blooded: if the preternatural was at work no one stopped him.
Until that one night.
During periods of dark melancholy, Dick uses the A-Z Case files to try to revive Vernon’s spirits (no pun intended). For the first time ever read about -
E –The Case of the End Room
V –The Rescue of Verity Brown
I –The Horror of Inglenook Hall
P—The Paddington Sewer Incident
Writer-Artist Benjamin R. Dilworth
28pp
A4
B&W
£8.00
They tried to get him with daggers and gunbs and fast loose succubi but they ain't got him....yet!
Dene Vernon thefirst UK comic book investigator of the weird, occult and other worldly (in every sense of the phrase) is back as his companion Dick opens up more old cases including:
The Mystery of the Red House
The Sharktopus Murders
The Case of the Hiulkingthorpe Dead
and the inevitable had to happen...
The Son of Bong Encounter
Ben Dilworth, now covered by Pax occultae, can safely reveal some of the most incredible adventures that Jock McCail could not. Are you ready for Son of Bong?
Has Dene Vernon bitten off more than he can chew?
Will HE be chewed?
Want to find out? Then.......
BUY THE COMIC!
Writer-Artist Benjamin R Dilworth
A4
B&W
28pp
£8.00
Elliott O’Donnell? Amateur.
Harry Price? Playing at it.
Dene Vernon? Dedicated professional putting his life (and probably soul) on the line in his search for knowledge and to defend the “innocents”
From the things lurking in the shadows and blackness of the night.
Things hiding and waiting in stately homes and council estates.
Waiting to consume or corrupt.
In the final part of the A-Z Case Files we find:
*The Knight of Knowle Manor
*The Graveney Wood Abduction Case
*The Threat of the Underwood Circle
Accounts that can only be presented now!
And don't forget....
Dene Vernon -Ghost and Mystery Detective
A4
B&W
24pp
£7.00
https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/terry-hooper/dene-vernon-mystery-detective/paperback/product-124edpvm.html
After more than 70 years John McCail's ghost and mystery detective, Dene Vernon is back. In this ClassicComic Fun reprint four of Vernon's terrifying cases -The Burning Heart! -The Terror of Steinlitz Castle! -The Evil From The East! and The Silent Pool Mystery.
Dene Vernon and The Mystery of Black John is awaiting publication so....
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