SIXTY YEARS OF TOXIC TERROR!

A strange and terrible living jelly-like substance – the product of nuclear weapons testing – emerged from the depths of the sea near Canada in 1965. Known by the human world as ‘The Sludge’, this unique monster posed a threat to anything that stood in its way. Anything it covered became possessed of a frightening, malignant power aimed against Mankind!

Celebrating sixty years since the character first appeared in the pages of Lion, this collection includes all of the Sludge's appearances from the 60s and 70s, including his crossover into the pages of the Robot Archie strip.

Bill Lacey

Before entering the comics industry, Bill worked as a technical artist for the Ministry od Aircraft. Amongst his early comic strip work was Robin Alone which appeared in Mickey Mouse Weekly, Super Dective Library and Cowboy Picture Library. Working on strips in Tiger, Buster, Lion and Princess, he also illustrated Mytek the Mighty in Valiant.

E. George Cowan

Before entering the comic industry Ted Cowan worked as a lab assistant at Shell-Mex then enlisted into the RAF as WWII broke out. Forced to re-enlist with the army after a crash, he became a dispatch rider, but another accident saw an end to his career in the services. After picking up a comic and being unimpressed by the writing inside, Cowan wrote to Stan Boddington, then editor of Champion. Boddington gave him a chance and Cowan started on Ginger Nutt – a successful strip about a young Australian boy, which ran for almost seven years. Cowan’s next strip - The Jungle Robot – appeared in the first issue of Lion. Many adventures featuring Robot Archie were to follow. While working for Lion, Cowan scripted many popular strips including Paddy Payne, Adam Eterno and of course The Spider which he co-created and wrote the first two complete stories for.

Ted Kearon Ted Kearon was a prolific artist who contributed many strips to IPC, particularly in the 1950s. Best known for illustrating Robot Archie for Lion, he also drew Zip Nolan, The Day the World Drowned and Steel Commando. Kearon also provided strips for DC Thomson, including Morgyn the Mighty for the Victor.