ILLUSTRATIVE TEXT
… Iron Man stood in front of the hotel and looked across the main street. He saw the desperadoes peer from their hiding places, and turn their rifle muzzles to face him. Black Jack was crouching behind a rain-barrel. Slowly and deliberately, Iron Man walked towards Black Jack. Immediately, Black Jack and his gang opened fire. Bullets ricocheted off Iron Man’s helmet and chest plate. Iron Man walked on. Black Jack emptied his magazine and fitted another clip of ammunition into his rifle. Still Iron Man walked on. “It’s a ghost!” yelled one of the desperadoes. “…the Ghost of Ned Kelly.” Immediately the gang, including Black Jack, turned and fled, using any horse, carts or trucks they could find.
The Ghost of Ned Kelly from Marvel Story Book Annual
This section examines illustrated news, story papers and books, penny dreadfuls [or bloods], comic books and strips, and graphic novels whose notions explore aspects of Ned Kelly folklore. From his rebellious spirit and defiance of authority through to the iconic imagery of his armour, Ned’s narrative has permeated our artistic awareness and influenced popular culture at a conscious and subconscious level. This impact can be seen in mid 20th century American western comics and boys weeklies from the United Kingdom. These representations would effect the origin stories of a number of modern day superheroes [and villains] manifesting themselves through diverse reincarnations and reinterpretations.
19th Century
- 1878
The Illustrated Australian News
Issue: #270
Creator: Ebenezer and David Syme
Publisher: David Syme
Date: 28 November 1878
Type: Story PaperThe front page caption reads, ‘Murderous attack on Victorian Police by Kelly and his Gang.’ The wood engraved illustration depicts the killing of Sergeant Michael Kennedy and Mounted Constable Michael Scanlon by the Kelly Gang at Stringybark Creek on 25 October 1878.
- 1878
The Australasian Sketcher
Issue: #74
Publisher: Hugh George
Printer: Webb, Vardon and Pritchard
Date: 23 November 1878
Type: Story PaperThe wood engraved illustration appeared on the front cover with the title, The Bush Ranging Tragedy: portraits of the four Constables and the two Kellys. 1 – Constable Lonigon, 2 – Edward Kelly, 3 – Constable Scanlan, 4 – Sergeant Kennedy, 5 – Constable M’Intyre, 6 – Daniel Kelly. The Australasian Sketcher was first published in Melbourne in 1873. In its early years the paper had a marked literary content [short stories, sketches, reviews] but later became an illustrated news magazine. Illustrations generally appeared on the front cover and in three double-page spreads. Columns covered theatre, the arts, sport, and serialised stories. Several articles during the late 1870s describe and portray the Kelly Gang and, in 1880, their capture through July and August, and the trial and execution of Ned Kelly in November.
- 1878
- 1880
The Illustrated Australian News
Issue: #291
Creator: Ebenezer and David Syme
Publisher: David Syme
Date: 3 July 1880
Type: Story PaperThe wood engraved illustration appeared on the front cover with the title, The murder of Sherritt. From a sketch taken immediately after the departure of the Kelly Gang. The Illustrated Australian News was a monthly news magazine of record in Melbourne. Its publishers, brothers Ebenezer and David Syme, also held the controlling interest in The Age newspaper. The Illustrated’s final edition was released at the start of May, 1889.
- 1880
The Australasian Sketcher
Issue: #101
Publisher: Hugh George
Printer: Webb, Vardon and Pritchard
Date: 10 July 1880
Artist: Thomas Carrington
Type: Story PaperThe wood engraving appeared on the front cover with the title, Ned Kelly at Bay from a sketch drawn on the spot by Mr. T. Carrington. This illustration is Carrington’s most famous image from the siege of Glenrowan and, in itself, has become an icon. Having travelled in the special police train from Melbourne, the artist was approximately one hundred metres away from the confrontation and unaware that the outlaw’s coat was actually draped over his shoulders. However, Carrington’s depiction of Ned’s stance, his helmet, the revolver, and Kelly’s wounded left arm are highly accurate.
- 1880
The Illustrated Australian News
- 1880
The Australasian Sketcher
Issue: #102
Publisher: Hugh George
Printer: Webb, Vardon and Pritchard
Date: 24 July 1880
Artist: Thomas Carrington
Type: Story PaperThe wood engraved illustration appeared on the front cover with the title, The Destruction of the Kelly Gang: Scene at the wake at Greta. As the ceremony was held privately with select family and friends in attendance, no actual reporter or artist was present at the funeral, so the illustration was entirely contrived.
- 1880
The Australasian Sketcher
Issue: #103
Publisher: Hugh George
Printer: Webb, Vardon and Pritchard
Date: 31 July 1880
Artist: Thomas Carrington
Type: Story PaperThe wood engraved illustration appeared on the front cover with the title, Destruction of the Kelly Gang: Stopping the Special Train by Mr. Curnow. Carrington, the artist, rode with a press contingent in the police special which was a few hundred metres behind the pilot locomotive when it was stopped just outside Glenrowan by the local school teacher Thomas Curnow.
- 1880
The Australasian Sketcher
- 1880
The Illustrated Australian News
Issue: #294
Creator: Ebenezer and David Syme
Publisher: David Syme
Date: 28 August 1880
Artist: Julian Ashton
Type: Story PaperThis engraved illustration was copied from an impressive watercolour by Julian Ashton and appeared on the front cover with the title, Kelly in the dock – a sketch from life. The cover also carries the incorrect edition of #292.
Ned had been suspicious of Ashton’s reasons for painting him and, after being given a possum rug to keep him warm in the icy courtroom, he raised it across one arm to screen his face from the artist.
Ian Jones Ned Kelly: The Last Stand
- 1880
McGee's Illustrated Weekly
Issue: Vol. 7 #47
Creators: James A. McGee, Maurice Francis Egan
Location: New York, N.Y.
Date: 9 October 1880
Type: Story PaperThe front page of the New York-based McGee’s Illustrated Weekly from 9 October 1880 highlights two half-page illustrations showing the last stand of the infamous Kelly Gang at Glenrowan, Victoria, in which Ned the bushranger, dressed in his homemade armour, defended himself against an insurmountable army of policemen. The top illustration shows Ned in a ‘grove of trees’, surrounded by a trio of policemen aiming their guns, as he stands dressed in his armour, with a ‘sort of protective visor over his face’. The lower illustration shows the Glenrowan Hotel, at night, with figures firing into the dark from the front porch. The page two there is a 9-1/2 inch column article under the title, The Kelly Gang of Bushrangers. It includes the following description, ‘One of the most peculiar features of the case is, that the robbers had provided themselves with armor made out of plows, which weighed about 97 pounds per man, and which proved for a time very effective. When one of the constables saw Edward Kelly approaching in this singular guise, he thought he was a madman come out to take part in the siege, while others declared he was the devil, or the bunyip, a fabulous creature supposed to haunt the interior of the country.’
- 1880
The Australasian Sketcher
Issue: #110
Publisher: Hugh George
Printer: Webb, Vardon and Pritchard
Date: 6 November 1880
Type: Story PaperThe title of the front cover engraving reads, The Trial of Edward Kelly, the Bushranger. It depicts Ned in the dock of the Supreme Court in Melbourne looking across at the trial judge, Redmond Barry.
- 1880
The Australasian Sketcher
Issue: #111
Publisher: Hugh George
Printer: Webb, Vardon and Pritchard
Date: 27 November 1880
Artist: Thomas Carrington
Type: Story PaperThe title of Carrington’s front cover engraving reads, Last scene of the Kelly drama: the criminal on the scaffold. While the artist was not an official witness at the hanging it is possible he worked from a sketch supplied by his friend Joe Melvin from the Argus and his own drawing of the gallows area.
- 1881
Ned Kelly: The Ironclad Australian Bushranger
Issue: #1
Creator: James Skipp Borlase
Publisher: Alfred J Isaacs and Sons
Published: 1881
Format: Penny Dreadful
Extent: 12 pagesThis is issue one from a weekly thirty-eight part penny-blood series originally published in 1881. The publisher, Alfred Isaacs, was not a huge printer of penny dreadfuls, in fact The Ironclad Australian Bushranger was their only known title.
We have no hesitation in saying that the life of Ned Kelly, the Ironclad Bushranger, is as disgraceful and disgusting a production as has ever been printed. Lord Campbell’s Act recognised the moral mischief which might be done by publications which offend against common decency, and provided for the condign punishment of the scoundrels who write print and sell them — they are, as the annals of the police courts prove every day, direct incentives to murder and robbery.
Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art
26 November 1881View: Ned Kelly: The Ironclad Australian Bushranger [covers]
- 1883
Journal des Voyages
Issue: #329
Publisher: Revue des Deux Mondes
Published: 28 October 1883
Format: Story PaperStory: Une Histoire De Bandits En Australie [5 pages]
Artist: Joliet After CastelliThe #329 edition of the French magazine Journal de Voyages featured the story Une Histoire De Bandits En Australie which ran over five pages and included a double page wood engraving titled Miss Kelly venait d’apparaitre dans son costume legendaire. The illustration depicts a distinctly Gallic Kelly Gang [their helmets adorned with horns] along with Ned’s sister Kate sporting a Musketeer’s plumed hat.
Information: Gallica.bnf.fr
View: Miss Kelly venait d’apparaitre dans son costume legendaire [image] - 1884
Journal des Voyages
Issue: #367
Publisher: Revue des Deux Mondes
Published: 20 July 1884
Format: Story PaperStory: Les batteurs de buissons en Australie
Artist: Joliet After CastelliThe #367 edition of the French magazine Journal de Voyages features the story Les batteurs de buissons en Australie – Une balle avait atteint le bandit au genou on Page 34 (Column 3). Roughly translated to Bush beaters in Australia – A bullet had hit the bandit in the knee, the front page wood engraving by the artist Castello reproduces Ned’s mistaken headdress. John F. Nash originally illustrated the inverted helmet in The Graphic on 4 September 1880. The incorrectly composed drawing was based on the police photograph by Oswald Madeley. That photo shows Ned’s helmet resting on its crown (upside down) next to segments of the Gang’s armour.
Information: Gallica.bnf.fr
20th Century
- 1934
The Triumph
Issue: #499 to #508
Publisher: The Amalgamated Press
Editor: Reg Eves
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 24 pagesStory: The Bullet-Proof Outlaw
Script: Hal WiltonThe Triumph was a British Story Paper for boys. It was published weekly by The Amalgamated Press based at Fleetway House in Farringdon Street, London. Following the demise of The Rocket, it ran from October 1924 to May 1940 for a total of 814 issues. During its long run, it incorporated The Boy’s Friend in January 1928, then The Gem in January 1940 for a short spell before being merged with The Champion in May of the same year. Billed in some of its issues as ‘Every Yarn’s A Thriller’, it featured a broad spectrum of thrilling adventure stories. One such story was The Bullet-Proof Outlaw. The ten-part episodic narrative by Hal Wilton featured the Australian outlaw Iron Mask and ran consecutively through issues 499 to 508.
Read: The Bullet-Proof Outlaw #499
Read: The Bullet-Proof Outlaw #505
Read: The Bullet-Proof Outlaw #506
Read: The Bullet-Proof Outlaw #507 - 1938
Bushrangers
Men with a price on their heads
Issue: #1
Creator: William Henry Fitchett
Publisher: Fitchett Brothers Pty Ltd
Published: 1938
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 96 pagesStory: Ned Kelly and His Gang
Script: W.H. Fitchett‘The true story of the exploits of Australia’s most famous gang of bushrangers told by a notable historian’.
One of the Strangest Stories in the History of Crime Under Any Sky.
- 1942
Spy Smasher
Issue: #4
Creator: C. C. Beck and Bill Parker
Publisher: Fawcett
Date: 22 April 1942
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 68 pagesStory: The Man in the Iron Mask [13 pages]
Script: Bill SchellySimilar to Batman and the Blue Beetle, Spy Smasher [secretly the ‘wealthy Virginia sportsman’ Alan Armstrong] is a master detective, equipped with a number of gadgets and a specialised vehicle, the ‘Gyrosub’, which was a combination of aeroplane, automobile, and submarine. Spy Smasher was introduced in Whiz Comics #2 [February 1940]. Alongside Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher became one of the magazine’s most popular characters. His perpetual enemy was the Mask, the mastermind of a deadly spy ring.
In this issue, Admiral Corby takes Alan and Eve out to see the reconstruction of Castle Fenmore into an American fort and is saved from death by Alan. Soon, the trio hear weird music and the admiral relates facts about a mysterious ‘Man in the Iron Mask’, rumoured to be a foreign agent wanting to sabotage American defences. Spotting the villain, Alan changes to Spy Smasher and confronts the man, who escapes, then begins killing off the construction workers.
Read: The Man in the Iron Mask
- 1945
The Kelly Gang Rides
Issue: #1
Creator: Lucky Doolan
Publisher: L. Clapperton
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 48 pagesCover: The Kelly Gang Rides
Artist: Lucky Doolan
Story: The Kelly Gang Rides [32 pages]
Script: Lucky Doolan
Pencil: Lucky DoolanThe Kelly Gang Rides was a comic book aimed at the adolescent market which presented a westernised version of Ned Kelly. The story depicted the Gang dressed in ‘modern’ 1940s clothing and Ned with a moustache [which was the look of the day] as opposed to a full beard. Subsequent artists would use this ‘follicly challenged’ likeness in creating their own interpretations of Ned in Gangsters Can’t Win #1 and The Westerner Comics #25.
‘The Kelly Gang Rides’ – a rather strange digest-sized comic published around 1945 – featured an accurate retelling of the life of Ned Kelly.
Bonzer Australian comics 1900s – 1990s
Read: The Kelly Gang Rides
- 1946
Kaark the Crow
Creator: Kenneth Neville
Publisher: John Fairfax and Sons Pty Ltd
Publication: The Sydney Morning Herald
Format: Comic StripStory: Kaark the Crow: Bushranger
Script: Kenneth Neville
Artist: Anne DrewThe Bushranger story arc ran in the weekly Wednesday section of Playtime Children’s Newspaper inside The Sydney Morning Herald from November 1946 to March 1947. It featured a crow named Kaark and an owl named Red Jelly. The cheeky themes were similar to Dorothy Wall’s Blinky Bill. Kaark also enjoyed dressing as a woman to rob unsuspecting characters. Could it be possible Peter Carey got his fascination with transvestism in a True History of the Kelly Gang from reading this comic strip?
‘Kaark the Crow’ was written by Kenneth Neville and drawn by Anne Drew. While strips about animals and birds were not new, Neville’s innovation was that he made the leading character something of a scoundrel. Kaark tried to take over the valley with the idea of charging the other bush creatures rent and even turned to bushranging for a period. His accomplice in the latter endeavour was Red Jelly who wore a large jam tin over his head and, once again, reflected our writers’ and artists’ fascination with the Ned Kelly mythology.
John Ryan Panel by Panel
View: Kaark the Crow: Bushranger [sample]
- 1947
Stockwhip Sam
Creator: J.A. ‘Bart’ Barlock
Publisher: John Fairfax and Sons Pty Ltd
Publication: The Sydney Morning Herald
Format: Comic StripStory: The Bunyip of Bumble Lake
Script: J.A. Barlock
Artist: J.A. BarlockThe Bunyip story arc ran in the weekly Wednesday section of Playtime Children’s Newspaper inside The Sydney Morning Herald from April to September 1947. It featured Stockwhip Sam and Fergus his aboriginal offsider. While humorous for its time period, by today’s standards it would be regarded as extremely racist. The storyline was a confused conglomeration of a number of side tales. One of which featured a Ned Kelly-style antagonist called ‘Pistol-Finger’ who turned out to be Stockwhip’s regular antagonist, Drongo Dick.
View: The Bunyip of Bumble Lake [sample]
- 1948
Gangsters Can't Win
Issue: #1
Creator: Richard Davis, V.C. Albus
Publisher: D.S. Publishing Company
Date: February 1948
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 52 pagesStory: Wanted Ned Kelly Australia’s Public Enemy #1 [6 pages]
Pencil: Tex Blaisdell
Ink: Tex BlaisdellGangsters Can’t Win ran for nine issues during the late 1940s and included stories of ‘violent true crime’. However, based on their Ned Kelly story, the comic’s claim of truth should be taken with a grain of salt – as the narrative was far from accurate. Ned’s likeness was lifted straight from the pages of Lucky Doolan’s The Kelly Gang Rides #1.
- 1948
Doll Man
Issue: #15
Creator: Will Eisner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray
Publisher: Quality
Date: Winter 1948
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 52 pagesStory: The Man in the Iron Mask! [12 pages]
Script: Bill Woolfolk
Pencil: Alex Kotzky
Ink: Alex KotzkyDoll Man is a fictional superhero from the Golden Age of Comics, originally published by Quality Comics and currently part of the DC Comics universe of characters. Doll Man was created by cartoonist Will Eisner and first appeared in a four-page story entitled Meet the Doll Man in Feature Comics #27. In this issue Dan Vittorio, The Man In the Iron Mask, makes his first appearance as the primary villain.
Read: The Man in the Iron Mask!
Republished: Wanted #5 - 1949
Western Killers
Issue: #64
Creator: Victor S. Fox
Publisher: Fox Feature Syndicate
Date: May 1949
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesStory: The Bullet-Proof Bandit! [9 pages]
Pencil: Bill Walsh
Ink: Bill WalshAn early western-frontier story of a bullet-proof antagonist by the name of Jack Fraser who dressed in medieval armour to conduct his short-lived career as a bandit. This story was also reproduced in Star Publications The Outlaws #13 [September 1953]. This reinforces the idea that Jack Kirby was introduced to the concept of armour at an early stage of his profession as the ‘King’ began his regular comic book career at Fox in 1940 creating a variety of comics including romance, crime, and westerns.
Victor Fox was a character. He’d look up at the ceiling with a big cigar, this little fellow, very broad, going back and forth with his hands behind his back saying, ‘I’m the King of Comics! I’m the King of Comics!’ and we would watch him and, of course, smile a little because he was a genuine type.
Jack Kirby
Read: The Bullet-Proof Bandit!
- 1950
The Westerner Comics
Issue: #25
Creator: Bill Woolfolk, Bill Black
Publisher: Patches Publications
Date: February 1950
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 52 pagesArtist: Mort Lawrence
Story: Terror of the Bush: Ned Kelly [6 pages]
Pencil: Rudy PalaisThe Westerner Comics featured classic Western stories by Bill Woolfolk and Bill Black. Beautifully illustrated drawings of Wild Bill and his pals battling a range of desperadoes were created by artists Syd Shores, Bob Rogers, and Al Luster. These ‘true tales’ from the Old West starred real-life characters such as Wild Bill Pecos, King Cullen, Nuggets Nugent, Clay Allison, and Ned Kelly.
- 1950
Dead-Eye Western
Issue: #11
Volume: One
Creator: Dan Zolnerowich
Publisher: Hillman Periodicals
Date: August 1950
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 52 pagesArtist: Dan Zolnerowich
Story: The Ironmen [8 pages]
Edit: Edward Cronin
Letters: Ben OdaIn this issue Captain McNelly and the Texas Rangers hunt for the ironclad outlaws led by Larn Cruger. Dead Eye Western contains some of the best written, masterfully drawn, colourful and exciting stories of the era. This edition’s cover is a clever interpretation of the Kelly Gang’s armour. It is particularly well rendered and, whilst the story is convoluted, the origin of the armour is indisputably Australian.
Read: The Ironmen
- 1951
Monte Hale Western
Issue: #58
Creator: Will Lieberson, Al Jetter
Publisher: Fawcett Publication
Date: March 1951
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 52 pagesStory: Monte Hale Battles the Human Fort! [7 pages]
Script: Bill Woolfolk
Pencil: Edmond Good
Ink: Edmond GoodYet another Western-frontier genre story featuring a bullet-proof antagonist. In this one-off episode the hero Monte Hale and his horse Partner use a swarm of bees to overcome an ironclad outlaw known as Ned Pounder, The Human Fort. This Ned wears the now famously obscure Kelly Gang helmet and a shortened version of the breastplate complete with a 360 degree multiple revolver weapon system!
- 1951
Western Hero
Issue: #101
Creator: Will Lieberson, Al Jetter
Publisher: Fawcett Publication
Distributed: April 1951
Format: Comic BookStory: The Man With the Iron Mask [7 pages]
Pencil: Edmond Good
Ink: Edmond GoodFawcett was one of the earliest western comic publishers to feature an iron mask stand alone story. Unlike Monte Hale Western #58, this helmet was initially placed on the character as retribution although the antagonist uses it as a weapon. This is opposed to a typical pirate, musketeer, or spy comic where an iron mask is primarily for punishment or camouflage as in the Spy Smasher #4 story The Man In the Iron Mask [April 1942] and the Doll Man #51 story The Man in the Iron Mask! [Winter 1948].
- 1951
Straight Arrow
Issue: #14
Publisher: Magazine Enterprises
Distributed: June 1951
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesStory: The Bullet-Proof Badmen! [7 pages]
Pencil: Fred Meagher
Ink: Fred MeagherThe comic book featured the radio serial hero, Straight Arrow. In this episode the antagonist wore bullet-proof armour and hid behind a klansmen style hood. Artist Fred Meagher had an ability to draw his horses in an elegant manner with the inking making them appear shiny. The illustrations were supported by heavy, clean blacks on the muscles – which was one of the artist particular tells – his skill in displaying defined muscle tone beneath the character’s shirts.
Read: The Bullet-Proof Badmen!
- 1951
Dead-Eye Western
Issue: #5
Volume: Two
Creator: Dan Zolnerowich
Publisher: Hillman Periodicals
Date: August 1951
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 52 pagesStory: Sadie’s New Skimmer [5 pages]
Letters: Ben OdaIn this episode, cowboy Horatio Horton dresses up in old knight’s armour and charges some hapless Indians with a lance. As the concept of being bullet proof has well and truly taken hold in 1950s Western genre comics, it now appears that the wild west is littered with medieval armour!
Story: Sadie’s New Skimmer
- 1951
Mr District Attorney
Issue: #24
Creator: Ed Byron
Publisher: DC Comics
Distributed: November 1951
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 44 pagesArtist: Howard Purcell, Charles Paris
Story: The Killer in the Iron Mask [10 pages]
Edit: Whitney Ellsworth
Script: Morris Waldinger
Pencil: Howard Purcell
Ink: Charles Paris
Letters: Ira Schnapp, Morris WaldingerWhen a criminal upsets his compatriots the ultimate retribution is issued: a metal mask affixed permanently to his head. One man, apparently driven mad by this punishment, exiled by the underworld and hunted by the police, begins a one-man crime wave as ‘Iron Mask’. This is yet another iron mask character whose origins are more aligned with western comics and gunslingers where metal armour protects the wearer from bullets. Like its contemporary, Gang Busters, the crime comic Mr District Attorney was licensed from a popular radio show which had been on air since 1939. DC was keen to advertise its popular pedigree with a cover banner reading, ‘Based on radio’s #1 hit!’ Its subject was the tough talking [and nameless] District Attorney, an implacable and callous force for justice who fought ugly and amoral crooks with colourful names like ‘Smoke-rings’ Thomson and the Pittsburgh Kid. Mr District Attorney rode the wave of crime comics and lasted for sixty-seven issues.
- 1951
Redskin
Issue: #7
Publisher: Youthful Magazines
Distributed: November 1951
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesStory: The Iron Horseman! [7 pages]Pencil: Doug WildeyInk: Doug WildeyImagine the brief from the editor of this racist title to his comic book artist [who’s never seen the Kelly Gang armour], ‘I need you to draw an armoured gun slinger whose costume can deflect bullets. And [like always] it’s a tight deadline.’ So with no time for research this Western-frontier story is, again, assailed with an armoured antagonist from saintly days of yore. You have to feel for Doug Wildey, as surely Kelly Gang armour would have been easier to draw than that of a medieval knight.Read: The Iron Horseman! - 1952
Tim Holt
Issue: #32
Creator: Frank Bolle, Dick Ayers
Publisher: Magazine Enterprises
Distributed: October 1952
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesArtist: Frank Bolle
Story: Terror in the Iron Mask! [7 pages]
Pencil: Frank Bolle
Ink: Frank BolleThe now common trope of the anti-hero armoured up against a range of ‘good guys’ from the wild west includes this edition of Tim Holt in which the protagonist Red Mask faces off against a colourful character known as Iron Mask.
Read: Terror in the Iron Mask!
- 1954
The Australian Boy Fortnightly
Issue: #51
Creator: E.J. Trait
Publisher: Standard Newspapers
Date: September 1954
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 24 pagesArtist: Stan Ballard
Story: Kelly Gang
Script: J.J. Kenneally
Pencil: Stan Ballard
Ink: Stan BallardThe comic-strip biography of Ned Kelly became a regular Boy feature and was eventually collected into a one-shot comic book, The Authentic Story of the Kelly Gang, published in 1956.
- 1954
The Cisco Kid
Issue: #23
Creator: William Sidney Porter
Publisher: Dell Comics
Date: September 1954
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesStory: The Iron Bandit [16 pages]
Pencil: Bob Jenney
Ink: Bob JenneyA man riding a horse while brandishing a gun and repelling Indian arrows thanks to a full set of armour. There are direct parallels to previous adult western comics where the antagonists dress in Kelly Gang style armour. While in this episode the armour is akin to a medieval knight, the concept harks back to Dead-Eye Western #11. It also signals a dilution in the storyline – now any type of armour can repel projectiles and intimidate characters.
Read: The Iron Bandit
- 1954
Captain Flash
Issue: #1
Editor: Martin Smith
Publisher: Sterling Comics Inc.
Date: November 1954
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesStory: The Iron Mask (6 pages)
Pencil: Mike Sekowsky
Ink: George KleinThe Iron Mask sets up a puzzle for Captain Flash to solve to stop an atomic bomb. Captain Flash has an origin of the type that would become familiar in the Silver Age. A professor at ‘Atom City’ had an accident with atomic material, which should have killed him but instead gave him strange powers. Clues in the story make it clear that the city is based on the location of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Additionally, Captain Flash’s plane is the experimental Douglas X-3 Stiletto. These details make the Captain Flash series an engaging example of mid-1950s Cold War-era comic books.
Read: The Iron Mask
- 1956
The Authentic Story of the Kelly Gang
Issue: #1
Creator: E.J. Trait
Publisher: Standard Newspapers
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 52 pagesScript: J.J. Kenneally
Pencil: Stan Ballard
Ink: Stan BallardBased on J.J. Kenneally’s famous and much-debated book, The Inner History of the Kelly Gang, this pictorial features over 400 pictures illustrating the career of Australia’s most famous bushranger. Ballard’s illustrations of the Gang’s armour were impressive and, up until Monty Wedd’s effort in the mid 1970s, the most comic book accurate.
- 1958
Six Gun Heroes
Issue: #46
Publisher: Charlton Publication
Date: May 1958
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesStory: The Bulletproof Outlaw [5 pages]
Pencil: Dick Giordano
Ink: Sal TrapaniA western-frontier one-off tale featuring Wild Bill Hickok. The episode seems to be a mash-up of Ned Kelly and ‘Killin’ Jim Miller who both wore protective armour. The iron vest concept shows a strong connection to A Fist Full of Dollars [1964] starring Clint Eastwood which was famously parodied by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future 3 [1990].
Read: The Bulletproof Outlaw
- 1959
Buffalo Bee
Issue: #1061
Founder: George Delacorte Jr.
Publisher: Dell Comics
Date: December 1959
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesStory: The Iron Man [6 pages]
Pencil: David Gantz
Ink: David Gantz
Letters: Ben OdaThe Catfish Kid outfits his gang in suits of bullet-proof armour to rob the Eldorado gold mine. Welcome to the wild west with a Kelly Gang style twist. However, as this comic is aimed at pre-teenagers the armour is copied from a medieval suit [similar to The Cisco Kid #23] in an attempt to tell the story without ambiguity, although it continues to dilute the link back to Ned Kelly’s story.
Read: The Iron Man
- 1962
Gunsmoke Western
Issue: #73
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Publisher: Marvel
Date: November 1962
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesArtist: Jack Kirby
Story: I Can Outdraw Kid Colt! [7 pages]
Script: Stan Lee
Pencil: Jack Keller
Ink: Jose Delbo, Jack Keller
Colour: Stan Goldberg
Letters: Artie SimekThis stand-alone storyline sees Kid Colt square off against antagonist Doc Draggett who, after being wounded by Kid in a previous draw, attempts to beat him in a shoot-out using an armoured robot. Lee and Kirby’s juxtaposition of weapons and armour would evolve in western storylines and, more significantly, branch out into the superhero genre with effective results.
Read: I Can Outdraw Kid Colt!
- 1962
Tales of Suspense
Issue: #39
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, Don Heck
Publisher: Marvel
Date: March 1963
Distributed: December 1962
Format: Comic BookCover: Iron Man!
Artist: Jack Kirby, Don Heck
Story: Iron Man Is Born! [13 pages]
Plot: Stan Lee
Script: Larry Lieber
Pencil: Don Heck
Ink: Don Heck
Letters: Art SimekIron Man makes his debut in this issue, eight editions after Iron Mask first appeared in #31. The creative team used the concept of armour for a number of Marvel characters including Dr Doom and A.I.M. as well as further develop the iron mask storyline to suit the western settings of Kid Colt Outlaw. The origins of Iron Man’s suit is a conglomeration of wild west comics featuring Kelly Gang style armour which morphed into ‘iron mask’ references. When coupled with Smash Comics #8 [March 1940] that featured Bozo the Robot [who is referred to in the panels as ‘Iron Man’], the genesis of Tony Stark’s alter ego becomes a lot clearer.
… he’s set to work building weapons of mass destruction for his captors, only to turn the tables and build himself a cybernetic suit of Ned Kelly armour and bust out of his cave prison.
Anthony Morris Forte #427
Read: Iron Man Is Born!
- 1963
Kid Colt Outlaw
Issue: #110
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Keller
Publisher: Marvel
Date: April 1963
Distributed: February 1963
Format: Comic BookCover: Iron Mask!
Artist: Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers
Story: Behind the Iron Mask! [13 pages]
Script: Stan Lee
Pencil: Jack Keller
Ink: Jack KellerIn the story Behind the Iron Mask! [Part 1] Kid Colt finds a wanted poster for Iron Mask and has to escape from the sheriff and his deputies. In Bullets Can’t Stop Him! [Part 2] Iron Mask robs Mr. Thompson and tries to rob the payroll but is stopped by Kid Colt. In Behind the Iron Mask! [Part 3] Kid Colt finally stops Iron Mask. Marvel moved Iron Mask into the pages of Kid Colt Outlaw where he became the gun slingers arch enemy, appearing in multiple issues — a novel move given that the norm of the day required that criminals were generally dispatched within a single episode. Marvel republished this episode in Kid Colt Outlaw #206 [1976].
Read: Behind the Iron Mask!
View: Kid Colt Outlaw #206 [cover] - 1963
Valiant and Knockout
Issue: #630907
Creator: Percy Clarke, Leonard Matthews
Publisher: Fleetway Publications
Date: 7 September 1963
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 32 pagesStory: Famous Fighters: Ned Kelly
Originally Valiant and Knockout featured a mixture of humour and adventure strips along with illustrated prose stories. After the Second World War the weekly title featured more adventure strips, and Matthews, who was promoted to editor in 1948, recruited artists including Sep E. Scott, H. M. Brock, D. C. Eyles, and Geoff Campion to draw them. The original publication ran from 1939 to 1963 and featured 1,251 issues.
- 1963
Kid Colt Outlaw
Issue: #114
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Keller
Publisher: Marvel
Date: January 1964
Distributed: October 1963
Format: Comic BookCover: The Return of Iron Mask!
Artist: Jack Kirby, Sol Brodsky
Story: The Return of Iron Mask! [18 pages]
Script: Stan Lee
Pencil: Jack Keller
Ink: Jack KellerThe Return of Iron Mask! story sees Iron Mask break out of prison to take revenge on Kid Colt, who captures him by rusting his armour. In this edition Iron Mask features bulkier protection compared to issue #110. The front cover illustration is a better representation of Ned Kelly’s armour while the design is more aligned to Iron Man’s Mark 1 suit from Tales of Suspense #39. The costume, specifically the helmet, also hints as to the origin for the Advanced Idea Mechanics [A.I.M.] uniform.
Read: The Return of Iron Mask!
- 1964
Kid Colt Outlaw
Issue: #121
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Keller
Publisher: Marvel
Date: 10 December 1964
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesCover: The Two Kids Meet!
Pencil: Jack Kirby
Ink: Chic Stone
Colour: Stan Goldberg
Letters: Sam Rosen
Story: Iron Mask Strikes Again! [17 pages]
Script: Stan Lee
Pencil: Jack Keller
Ink: Jack Keller
Letters: Sam RosenIn this episode Marshall Sam Hawk captures both Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid. The two Kid based outlaws escape from jail and help Sam capture Iron Mask.
Yes, Kid Colt actually had a recurring nemesis who dressed like that. Obviously based on Ned Kelly, Iron Mask was really just a blacksmith with bulletproof armor, nothing too implausible by steampunk standards, but still, to a casual observer, you’d think he was a robot.
Read: Iron Mask Strikes Again!
- 1965
Kid Colt Outlaw
Issue: #127
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Keller
Publisher: Marvel
Date: 9 December 1965
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 36 pagesCover: Iron Mask is Back
Pencil: Larry Lieber
Inks: Dick Ayers
Colour: Stan Goldberg
Letters: Artie Simek
Story: Iron Mask and His Circus of Crime! [17 pages]
Script: Roy Thomas, Steve Skeates
Pencil: Jack Keller
Ink: Jack Keller
Letters: Artie SimekIn this episode Kid Colt and his trusty steed Steel face off against Iron Mask and his Circus of Crime, namely Doctor Danger, Fat Man, and Bennington Brown. In 1966, Kid Colt Outlaw won the Alley Award for Best Western Title. The story was reprinted in Kid Colt Outlaw #219 with an updated cover that featured deeper colours and stronger penciling.
Read: Iron Mask and His Circus of Crime!
View: Kid Colt Outlaw #219 [cover] - 1966
Lion
Creator: Percy Clarke, Leonard Matthews
Publisher: Fleetway Publications
Date: 29 January 1966
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 32 pagesStory: A near miss for the Ironclad Bushranger!
Lion was first published in early 1952 as a weekly boys’ adventure comic designed to compete with Eagle and their hero Dan Dare. Lion contained a mix of text stories and comic strips. Its flagship stories were Captain Condor, and Robot Archie. By the 1960s Lion was one of the most popular British weekly titles and began featuring anti-hero characters like The Spider and The Sludge. Lion merged with several other comics during its life, including Eagle and Thunder. By the mid 70s it merged with Valiant which merged with Battle Picture Weekly two year later.
- 1966
Strange Tales
Issue: #147
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Publisher: Marvel
Date: August 1966
Distributed: May 1966
Format: Comic BookArtist: Jack Kirby
Story: The Enemy Within!
Script: Stan Lee
Pencil: Don Heck
Ink: Mickey Demeo
Letters: Sam RosenAdvanced Idea Mechanics [A.I.M.] made their first appearance in Strange Tales #146. A.I.M. is a privately funded organisation comprising brilliant scientists whose sole dedication is to acquire and develop power through technological means. They plan to use this power to overthrow governments of the world by suppling arms and technology to radicals and subversive organisations to foster a violent technological revolution while also making a profit [naturally]. Their army has a unique yellow coloured uniform which includes a striking helmet whose appearance bears an uncanny resemblance to the Kelly Gang’s original head gear.
View: Advanced Idea Mechanics [images]
- 1967
Marvel Story Book Annual
Issue: #1
Publisher: World Distributors
Date: 1967
Format: Story Book
Extent: 96 pagesStory: The Ghost Of Ned Kelly [6 pages]
Author: Douglas Enefer, A. Tyson, John W. ElliotTony Stark is travelling through rural Victoria with his Australian girlfriend ‘Dusty’ Glen. Dusty mentions they are in ‘Kelly Country’ and then tells Tony that, ‘Ned Kelly was a fearless bushranger who used to terrorise the Victoria and New South Wales border country about a hundred years ago, plundering towns and holding up banks.’ Later, a band of desperadoes lead by Black Jack attack the hotel where Tony Stark is staying. Not having recharged his armour due to a power failure, he fights the bandits in an undercharged Iron Man suit. Barely able to move, Iron Man manages to stumble towards Black Jack who opens fire on him but the bullets bounce off. The villains then flee fearing it’s ‘the ghost of Ned Kelly.’
Read: The Ghost Of Ned Kelly
- 1968
The Victor
Issue: #367
Publisher: D.C. Thomson & Co.
Date: 2 March 1968
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 32 pagesStory: Ned Kelly: The Last of the Bushrangers [1 page]
Script: Stuart Moore
Artist: Bill Holroyd
Inker: Mauricio MeloThe Victor was a British comic published weekly. It ran for 1,657 issues from January 1961 until November 1992. It told adventure tales in comic book format and featured stories that could be described as ‘Boy’s Own’ adventures. Many focused on the exploits of the British military and each front cover carried a story of how a medal had been won by British or Commonwealth forces during the First or Second World Wars. The comic also featured science fiction, adventure, and sports stories.
Read: Ned Kelly: The Last of the Bushrangers
Information: VictorHornetComics.co.uk - 1970
Iron Outlaw
Creator: Greg and Grae
Publisher: Sunday Observer
Artist: Gregor McAlpine
Script: Fysh Rutherford
Colour: John Power
Format: Comic Strip
Run: 36 editionsInitially titled The Saga of Ironoutlaw, the comic strip was a colourful addition to the Sunday Observer line-up from June 1970. Iron Outlaw sometimes ridiculed but mostly poked fun at the political and social institutions of Australia, setting about the ‘Ocker’ image with great relish. At the same time, Rutherford and MacAlpine highlighted the popularity of comic book super-heroes, particularly the characters from Stan Lee’s Marvel Comic Group and imitated the styles of well-known comic book artists to reinforce their point. The weekly strip ran for thirty-six issues before moving to the Sunday Review.
View: Iron Outlaw [images]
Information: Fysh.com.au - 1970
Look and Learn
Issue: #462
Publisher: Fleetway Publications
Date: 21 November 1970
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 40 pagesStory: The Australian Robin Hood
Look and Learn was an unusual publication for Fleetway in the early 60s. Unlike their other Reader’s Digest sized art comics, this publication’s dimensions were American comic book size. Look and Learn was half colour and usually consisted of highly illustrated text articles along with eight to twelve pages of colour comics. After #200, the number of comic pages became greater and included fantasy series like Trigan Empire. Remembered fondly by grandparents, this demographic highlights the real popularity of Look and Learn.
Information: ComicVine.gamespot.com
- 1971
The Rover
Issue: #522
Publisher: DC Thomson & Co
Date: 16 January 1971
Format: Story Paper
Run: 8 editionsStory: Ned Kelly: Outlaw from the Outback
The Ned Kelly story ran over eight weekly issues [#522 to #529]. The Rover was the second of the ‘Big Five’ boys’ story papers in the United Kingdom. It began publication in March 1922. The paper absorbed Adventure in 1961 and The Wizard in 1963. The Rover ran until January 1973.
- 1971
Iron Outlaw and Steel Sheila
Creator: Greg and Grae
Publisher: Sunday Review
Artist: Gregor McAlpine
Script: Fysh Rutherford
Format: Comic Strip
Run: 15 editionsWith the closure of the Sunday Observer imminent, Iron Outlaw and Steel Sheila [as the strip was now called] transferred to the pages of the Sunday Review in March 1971. While the page went from colour to black and white, the strip hit its visual peak with some stunning artwork by MacAlpine. By the time it had finished in June the same year, the comic had satirised practically everything in sight and, in the process, confronted readers with some of the more unpleasant aspects of society. In the final story, Iron Outlaw becomes the dictator of Australia and imprisoned the incredulous Steel Sheila – after all, she was only a ‘little wog!’
I am actually surprised that, as far as I can tell, the Ned Kelly story has not been used more often in comic books, as it is such a stunning visual. I reviewed many ‘true’ and ‘real fact’ titles from the Golden Age, and didn’t see him come up at all. I should mention two Australian newspaper strips from the 70s. ‘Ned Kelly’ was a fairly straightforward telling to the outlaw’s story, whereas ‘Iron Outlaw’, a satirical strip that used the iron helmet as a launching pad.
View: Iron Outlaw and Steel Sheila [images]
Information: Fysh.com.au - 1974+
Ned Kelly
Creator: Monty Wedd
Publisher: Sunday Mirror
Artist: Monty Wedd
Script: Monty Wedd
Format: Comic Strip
Run: 146 editionsNed Kelly was an open-ended comic strip that appeared in Sydney’s Sunday Mirror and was syndicated in other Australian newspapers. The strip, a detailed examination of Ned’s life, ran from 20 October 1974 to 10 July 1977, an impressive 146 weeks.
They had been going to run Captain Justice but they told me Rupert Murdoch had invested a lot of money in the Ned Kelly movie so they wanted a cartoon about Ned Kelly. I did a 140-episode true life story of Ned Kelly and then I followed that up with Bold Ben Hall.
Monty Wedd
View: Ned Kelly [images]
- 1977
Bold Ned Kelly
Issue: #1
Publisher: The Jabiru Press
ISBN: 0908104006
Date: 1977
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 64 pagesDesigner: Dick Johnson
Illustrator: Shirley TurnerActivity books for young Australians which are carefully designed for children between the ages of eight and eleven to stimulate their interest in the country in which they live by encouraging them to participate directly in the discovery of information about it.
In other words, Bold Ned Kelly is a Kelly Gang comic book, puzzle, crossword, fact sheet, map, and colouring book all-in-one.
- 1977
The Wild & Woolley comix book: Australian underground comix
Issue: #1
Editor: Pat Woolley and Ian Mccausland
Publisher: Wild & Woolley
Date: 1977
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 102 pagesStory: Iron Outlaw and Steel Sheila [7 pages]
Artist: Greg Mc Alpine
Script: Graeme RutherfordThe Wild & Woolley Comix Book features reprints from 109 pages of Australian underground comix originally published between 1964 and 1976.
The heroes Iron Outlaw and Steel Sheila are avatars of an ethnically white Australia who resent the presence of Asian Australians and their names hark back to white Anglo-Celtic settlement. The Iron Outlaw evokes folk hero Ned Kelly and Steel Sheila is named for the Australian slang term for a woman, one that probably derives from ‘the large number of Irish migrants to Australia.’ The language of Iron Outlaw and Steel Sheila is marked by phrases such as ‘That’s the flamin’ limit!’, ‘corker!’, ‘Geez, I feel crook!’ and ‘whingin’, and when Iron Outlaw is drugged, kidnapped, tortured and brainwashed, he is brought back to his senses by the flames of a dragon. In other words, he returns to the side of good after he is ‘bar-b-qued!’. What could be more Aussie than that?
Pat Woolley
Information: blogs.Exeter.ac.uk
- 1979
Action Holiday Special
Issue: #1
Creator: Pat Mills
Publisher: IPC Magazines
Date: June 1979
Format: Story Paper
Extent: 64 pagesStory: Ned Kelly – Last of the Bushrangers [1 page]
Action Holiday Special included some new features as well as content from previous issues [but with less blood and violence]. It was a controversial British boys weekly anthology that began in February 1976. Many of the stories in Action were called ‘dead cribs’, essentially rip-offs of popular films, books, and comic heroes, but with their own style and attitude.
- 1979
ROM: Spaceknight
Issue: #1
Creator: Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, Bryan L. McCoy
Publisher: Marvel
Date: December 1979
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 32 pagesArtist: Frank Miller
Story: Arrival!
Editor: Jim Shooter, Mary Jo Duffy
Script: Bill Mantlo
Artist: Sal Buscema
Ink: Joe Rubinstein
Pencil: Sal Buscema
Colour: Bob Sharen
Letters: Tom OrzechowskiDeep in space two centuries ago a decisive battle between the forces of good and evil was fought. The brave Spaceknights of Galador defeated the evil sorcery and super-science of the Dire Wraiths and scattered them to the furthest reaches of the galaxy. Now in present day their eternal struggle has spilled over to Earth. Rom, greatest of the Spaceknights, has arrived in Clairton, a small West Virginia town. Frightened by the arrival of a 7′ alien, the people of Clairton have called in the National Guard. Can Rom convince those he came to save that the true enemy resides in their very ranks?
A fully armoured, futuristic robot with red laser eyes from another planet that goes by the name of ROM but looks a hell of a lot like our Ned Kelly. What more could an eager comic book devouring public want at the start of the 1980s?
View: ROM: Spaceknight [images]
Information: ComicVine.gamespot.com - 1983+
Battle Picture Weekly
Issue: #422
Creator: Pat Mills
Publisher: IPC Magazines
Date: June 1983
Distributed: May 1983
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 32 pagesArtist: Jim Watson
Story: Action Force [12 pages]This edition marks Baron Ironblood [Marcus Kassels] very first appearance. It also heralds a massive change for Battle Picture Weekly with regular tie-in strips featuring Palitoy’s Action Force line of toys. The four-week strip started in #422 and proved quite popular, leading to a series of mini Action Force comics.
I didn’t like the character with the bucket on his head – like Ned Kelly gone mad! It was purely done for the money and the survival. I thought then, ‘It’s going downhill, this comic.’
John Cooper artist
View: Baron Ironblood [images]
- 1983
Action Force
Issue: #1
Creator: Gerry Day, Jim Watson
Publisher: IPC Magazines
Date: July 1983
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 8 pagesStory: Baron Ironblood
Pencil: Ron TurnerBaron Ironblood is the leader of the Red Shadows, sworn enemies of Action Force. His twisted criminal brain dreams of world dominance. Noted for hypnotic control over men, his madness leads to wild fury in defeat, often taken out on his own troops. Ironblood sports a black Ned Kelly-style helmet with a horizontal slit for vision. Five promotional Action Force mini-comics were produced and given away free with every title published by IPC. This first mini comic was released with Battle #428 and culminated in the menacing Explosive News Inside for Every Reader! in #439.
View: Baron Ironblood [images]
- 1983
The Australian Super-Team
Issue: #1
Creator: Peter Markmann
Publisher: Galaxy Comics Inc.
Date: July 1981
Format: Comic Book
Price: 75 cents
Run: 20 CopiesThis is just some silly thing I did when I was 18. It would have been done in 1981, not ’83 (as mistakenly listed on CGC 4151757020). I was going to call it Mega-Force but a collector friend thought that sucked. A year later, a Clint Eastwood movie called Mega-Force came out.
Peter Markmann
- 1987
West Coast Avengers
Issue: #18
Creator: Al Milgrom, Joe Sinnott
Publisher: Marvel
Date: March 1987
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 22 pagesCover: Trapped in the Old West … It’s a Show Down
Artist: Al Milgrom, Joe Sinnott
Editor: Mark Gruenwald
Story: Lost in Space-Time, Part Two: Time Was…
Script: Steve Englehart
Pencil: Al Milgrom
Ink: Joe Sinnott
Colour: Ken Feduniewicz
Letters: Tom OrzechowskiThe Avengers arrive in the Arizona Desert of 1876 and are soon distracted by the sounds of a nearby battle involving Hawkeye’s old allies, Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, and Phantom Rider. The Avengers join up with the Western heroes to take on an alliance of many of their villains, including Iron Mask, Hurricane, Rattler, Red Raven, Doctor Danger, the Fat Man, and the Living Totem. Ironically, it’s the first and only time Iron Mask comes up against Iron Man.
- 1990
The Phantom
Issue: #956
Creator: Lee Falk
Publisher: Frew
Distributed: June 1990
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 32 pagesArtist: Glenn Ford
Story: The Iron Mask
Edit: Jim Shepherd
Script: Donne Avenell
Pencil: Hans LindahlThe Phantom joins a long line of comic books that tackle the tale of the man in the iron mask. This version of the mask deviates from the standard face cast and instead borrows heavily upon the cylindrical outline of the Kelly Gang’s helmet. One theory is this familiarity allows readers easy recognition of the profile.
View: The Iron Mask [sample]
- 1997
The False Impressionists
Issue: #2
Creator: Tolley and Bernard
Publisher: Imaginate
Date: December 1997
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 28 pagesArtist: Tolley
Story: Searching For Sight
Script: Bernard Caleo, Tolley
Pencil: Tolley
Ink: Bernard Caleo
Letters: TolleyThe False Impressionists is an indie comic from the mind of one of Australia’s most talented comic book makers Bernard Caleo. In episode two we get introduced to the Kelly Gang through some sort of weird time travelling experience when our future guests arrive in the middle of the Kellys battling the police during the siege of Glenrowan.
21st Century
- 2002
The False Impressionists
Issue: #3
Creator: Tolley and Bernard
Publisher: Imaginate
Date: July 2002
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 32 pagesArtist: Tolley
Story: Last Rites
Script: Bernard Caleo, Tolley
Pencil: Tolley, Bernard Caleo
Ink: Bernard Caleo, Tolley
Letters: TolleyIn episode three our time travellers witness the destruction of the Kelly Gang and the madness inside the hostage filled Jones Inn as police spray the property with bullets. The black and white imagery is stark, effective, and right in your face!
- 2007
Batman
Issue: #667
Creator: Bob Kane, Bill Finger
Publisher: DC Comics
Date: August 2007
Format: Comic Book
Series: The Black Glove
Extent: 32 pagesArtist: J.H. Williams III
Story: The Island of Mister Mayhew
Script: Grant Morrison
Editor: Mike Marts, Peter Tomasi
Pencil: J.H. Williams III
Ink: J.H. Williams III
Colour: Dave Stewart
Letters: Ken LopezAfter news of Batman’s crime fighting spread across the world, a group of vigilantes took up arms in their respective nations and were then invited by the Dark Knight to meet in The Batmen of All Nations from Detective Comics #215 [January 1955]. One of the original members was The Ranger and his sidekick The Scout from Australia. Moving forward the franchise renamed itself the International Club of Heroes and later became Dome, realigning their activities to resemble the Justice Society of America. After 1955 the group became inconspicuous until The Island of Mister Mayhew [#667 – 669] where an updated Ranger, wearing ‘Ned Kelly style protective headgear‘, was murdered by fellow member Wingman. Eventually his sidekick Scout, an Indigenous Australian by the name of Johnny Riley, was elevated to Dark Ranger in a ceremony conducted by Batman. His primary adversary was the Swagman who also wore protective armour more akin to Ned Kelly than even the Dark Ranger’s equipment.
- 2007
Fair Dinkum NED
Issue: #1
Creator: Rhonda M. Tallnash
Publisher: Hental Industries
ISBN: 9780977559435
Date: 2007
Format: Story Book
Extent: 28 pagesArtist: Vasja Koman
Script: Rhonda M. TallnashNed is a bushranger whose career gets off to a rocky start due to some problems created by his unique suit.
Information: catalogue.NLA.gov.au
- 2008
Robin
Issue: #176
Creator: Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Jerry Robinson
Publisher: DC Comics
Date: August 2008
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 32 pagesArtist: Guy Major
Script: Fabian Nicieza, Chuck Dixon
Pencil: Joe Bennett
Inker: Jack Jadson
Colour: Freddie E Williams II, Guy MajorIn this issue, Swagman and Pierror Lunaire are sent out to kill Robin. Swagman shoots a rocket launcher at Robin and Spoiler who then take cover behind a trash container. As the fire spreads, Robin comes out and fights Swagman, beating him and then questioning him about Batman’s location.
View: Swagman [images]
- 2009
Batman R.I.P.
Issue: #676 – 681
Creator: Bob Kane, Bill Finger
Publisher: DC Comics
Date: February 2009
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 208 pagesArtist: Alex Ross
Script: Grant Morrison
Pencil: Lee Garbett, Alex Ross
Ink: Trevor Scott, Alex Ross, Sandu Florea, Robert WashingtonBatman R.I.P. features the antagonist Swagman who began his criminal career by taking a cue from the legendary Australian outlaw Ned Kelly, wearing crude but highly effective metal body armour and carrying various weaponry including grenade launchers and swords. Swagman was recruited by the Black Glove and became a member of the Club of Villains, under the leadership of Doctor Hurt. During the final conflict, members of the Batman Family and the Club of Heroes defeat the Club of Villains and Swagman is rendered unconscious by the Dark Ranger.
View: Swagman [images]
- 2010
Justice League: Cry for Justice
Issue: #1 – 7
Creator: Gardner Fox
Publisher: DC Comics
Date: June 2010
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 232 pagesArtist: Mauro Cascioli
Script: James RobinsonSwagman joins a cast of antagonists and super villains as they attempt to take down the new Justice League who are still reeling from the deaths of JLA heroes Batman and Martian Manhunter.
View: Swagman [images]
- 2010
Marvel Zombies 5
Issue: #1
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Michael Horwitz
Publisher: Marvel
Date: June 2010
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 28 pagesArtist: Rafa Garres
Story: The Dead and the Quick [26 pages]
Script: Fred Van Lente
Pencil: Kano
Ink: Tom Palmer
Colour: Val Staples
Letterer: Simon BowlandIron Mask [Don Hertz] was long dead after the end of the Wild West and interred in Rango’s cemetery [Earth-483]. The villain was among a number of corpses that were revived as zombies from a plague infested meteorite which crashed into the cemetery. Don Hertz was the last zombie remaining due to his iron mask which kept him from being shot in the head. However, as he attacked Jackie Kane, Iron Mask was killed by Machine Man who used a circular saw to cut off Don’s head.
MACHINE MAN IS BACK! Zombies of the multiverse, watch your rotting backs! To obtain a cure for the zombie virus for Morbius the Living Vampire, Aaron Stack, Agent of ARMOR, must traverse alternate realities hunting down the plague in all its myriad forms… with a most unusual (but somehow oddly appropriate) partner! First up: in the Alterniverse known as ‘The Territory’, the Old West never died. But when the greatest gunslingers of Marveldom – Kid Colt, Iron Mask, Two-Gun Kid, Phantom Rider and many others – rise from their graves in Boot Hill, the stage is set for a High Noon showdown with flesh-eating outlaws the likes of which you’ve never seen! Saddle up and ride into the tale we had to call THE DEAD AND THE QUICK!
Read: The Dead and the Quick
- 2012
Showdowns, Shootouts and Rivalries
Issue: #1
Creator: Katherine Crowton
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 9781471088674
Date: February 2012
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 18 pagesStory: Such Is Life… [1 page]
Editor: Nathan GriceShowdowns, Shootouts and Rivalries! features cool illustrations and amazing facts about some of the worlds greatest duels and confrontations. From David and Goliath to Blackbeard the Pirate to Ned Kelly, this title includes thirteen illustrations from new and established illustrators from all around the world.
Information: Amazon.com.au
- 2012
L'homme à La Tête De Fer
Issue: #1
Creator: Corteggiani, ManKho, Bonaventure
Publisher: Grand West Editions
ISBN: 9791091468084
Date: November 2012
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 54 pages
Language: FrenchArtist: Dominique Cèbe [ManKho]
Script: François Corteggiani
Colours: BonaventureSur les terres rouges gorgées de bauxite, battues par les vents, il paraît que l’on aperçoit encore quelques fois l’ombre de Ned Kelly «l’homme a la tête de fer », qui fut voleur de bétail dans son jeune âge et qui avec sa bande de hors-la-loi désespérés, sillonna en son temps l’Etat de Victoria en Australie.
Translation: On the red earth saturated with bauxite, battered by the winds, it seems that one still sees a few times the shadow of Ned Kelly ‘the man with the iron head’, who was a cattle thief in his young age and who with his band of desperate outlaws, in his time criss-crossed the state of Victoria in Australia.
- 2014
Meet Ned Kelly
Issue: #1
Creator: Janeen Brian
Publisher: Random House Australia
Date: February 2014
Format: Story Book
Extent: 36 pagesArtist: Matt Adams
Script: Janeen Brian‘Ned Kelly was a notorious bushranger. He lived in Australia’s earliest days. He was daring and clever and bold. In a suit made of iron he battled police. And his story is still being told.’ This is the first book in a picture book series about the extraordinary men and women who have shaped Australia’s history.
View: Meet Ned Kelly [images]
- 2014
Ned Kelly
Issue: #1
Creator: Monty Wedd
Publisher: ComicOZ
Date: April 2014
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 160 pagesArtist: Monty Wedd
Script: Monty WeddIn the 1970s, artist and historian Monty Wedd produced a weekly newspaper adventure strip that fully detailed Ned Kelly’s life. This volume collects each and every episode of Monty Wedd’s monumental three year undertaking. Wedd made Ned Kelly as authentic as possible, telling the story with an even handed approach and rendered in a style that resembled earlier engravings. The book won a Bronze For Excellence in Australian Comics and Publishing in the 2015 Ledger Awards.
It was an excellent example of how to use the comic medium to teach history.
John Ryan Panel by Panel
Information: Cartoonists.org.au
- 2014
Ned Kelly and the Green Sash
Issue: #1
Creator: Mark Greenwood
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Date: August 2014
Format: Story Book
Extent: 40 pagesArtist: Frane Lessac
Script: Mark GreenwoodAs a young boy, Ned Kelly saved a classmate from drowning in a flooded creek. He was rewarded with a green silk sash for his heroism. Yet, within a few years, he became an outlaw who was eventually hanged for murder. ‘Ned Kelly and the Green Sash’ is a window into the character of a poor boy, once honoured for his bravery, who grew up to become Australia’s most notorious bushranger.
View: Ned Kelly and the Green Sash [images]
- 2015
Australia!
Issue: #1
Creator: Nat Karmichael
Publisher: ComicOZ
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 92 pagesStory: Kelly’s Revenge [5 pages]
Script: Glen Lumsden
Pencil: Glen LumsdenGlen Lumsden’s impressive contribution Kelly’s Revenge to the comic anthology Australia! won him the Comic Book Artist 2016 Stanley Award at the Australian Cartoonists Association’s annual ceremony.
View: Kelly’s Revenge [sample]
- 2015
Bad Ned
Issue: #1
Creator: Dean Lahn
Publisher: Scholastic Australia
Format: Story Book
Extent: 32 pagesNed has the same name as a famous bushranger. Some days he’s as BAD as can be. When he’s going to be especially bad he wears armour, and that’s when the REAL trouble starts.
Clearly aimed at the pre-teen market, Bad Ned is a humorous attempt to reference Ned Kelly through the eyes of a young farm boy’s antics and imagination. Written and illustrated by Dean Lahn, his use of heavy fonts, bold colours, and solid images will fire a young reader’s imagination.
I would highly recommend this book given that the unusual style and formatting of its comic action-adventure story has the potential to engage reluctant readers, especially boys, and interest them in topics of Australian history.
Debra Tidball Reading Time
Information: GoodReads.com
- 2016
Ned Kelly: Ironclad Alien Killer
Issue: #1
Creator: Martin Chuzz
Publisher: Convict Comics
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 24 pagesArtist: Adam Nichols
Script: Nick Macari
Pencil: Chris Batista
Ink: David Meikis, Roland Paris
Colour: John Rauch
Letters: Rachel DeeringPursued by the boys in blue whilst liberating money from the bank at Euroa, Ned Kelly is rescued by a mysterious stranger. He is given some special goggles, the likes of which Ned has never seen before. When he puts them on, the awful truth is revealed – the nascent settlement of Victoria has been colonised not only by the Imperialist English, but also by a race of marauding aliens. And most of them seem to be masquerading as policemen.
Read: Episode One
- 2016
Ned Kelly: Ironclad Alien Killer
Issue: #2
Creator: Martin Chuzz
Publisher: Convict Comics
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 28 pagesArtist: Chris Batista
Script: Nick Macari
Pencil: Chris Batista
Ink: David Meikis, Chris Oyo
Colour: John Rauch
Letters: Rachel DeeringThings turn from bad to worse for our true blue hero Ned Kelly. Not only has the colony of Victoria been invaded by hostile aliens who masquerade as Policemen, but Ned’s philandering past has also come back to bite him. A chance encounter with old flame Alice Sherritt at the resistance base leads to fisticuffs, betrayal, and more!
Read: Episode Two
- 2016
Ned Kelly: Ironclad Alien Killer
Issue: #3
Creator: Martin Chuzz
Publisher: Convict Comics
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 27 pagesArtist: Adam Nichols
Script: Nick Macari
Pencil: Drew Moss
Ink: David Meikis, Chris Arieswendha
Colour: John Rauch
Letters: Rachel DeeringNed has been recruited by genius inventor Henry Sutton to lead the resistance movement while Ned’s old flame Alice Sherritt has betrayed him to Baratha, the leader of the aliens, who masquerades as Judge Sir Redmond Barry. Baratha’s crew have in turn kidnapped Ned’s fiancee Ettie. With Ettie captured, Alice enraged, and Sutton’s teenage daughter Tabitha fast developing a crush on him, our favourite bushranger certainly has his hands full.
Read: Episode Three
- 2016
Ned Kelly: The Man Behind The Mask
Issue: #1
Creator: Hugh Dolan
Publisher: NewSouth Publishing
Date: February 2016
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 80 pagesArtist: Hugh Dolan
Script: Hugh Dolan
Colour: Dana Vaida, Antim Marius
Ink: Adrian Barbu
Letters: Adrian BarbuWe all think we know the story of Ned Kelly, Australia’s most famous outlaw, but we’ve never seen him in full colour like this before … Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly was born in 1855 into a poor Irish immigrant family in rural Victoria. He grew up loyal to his family, angry at the injustice he saw in Australian society and desperate to better his situation by any means. Often in trouble with the police, with the so-called Kelly Gang he was involved in horse and cattle stealing, bank robbing, kidnapping and ultimately murder. But he was the only bushranger to write a famous and compelling letter explaining his behaviour. As every Australian knows, after a legendary shoot-out Ned was captured by police and later hanged at Melbourne Gaol. Folk hero or criminal, this is the story of Ned Kelly as you’ve never seen it before.
View: Ned Kelly: The Man Behind The Mask [images]
- 2017
I AM NED
Issue: #1
Creator: Max Myint
Publisher: House of M
Date: November 2017
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 34 pagesArtist: Zachary Smith-Cameron
Script: Max Myint‘I AM NED’ is set in the wake of World War 4, and what remains of the continents have been isolated from each other. Australia is now lost to an intelligent species of zombies. For ten years, the oppressive regime known as the ‘Zombie World Order’ has commanded loyalty from its citizens through power and propaganda. People are hunted and sent to ‘human farms’, where they are then portioned and delivered to the hungry masses like cattle. One man dares to stand against the plague. Building armour inspired by the legendary Ned Kelly, he is driven, and merciless in his desire to bring down this zombie empire.
View: I AM NED [images]
- 2017
L'histoire de Ned Kelly
Issue: #1
Creator: Marie-Eve and Jean-Jacques de Grave
Publisher: Helium
ISBN: 9782330086725
Date: October 2017
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: 88 pages
Language: FrenchArtist: Jean Jacques de Grave
Script: Marie-Eve de GraveJe m’appelle Ned Kelly. J’ai vingt-cinq ans. Je suis né dans la nature, au cœur du bush. Aujourd’hui ma fin approche, mais je n’ai peur de rien. Je suis entré dans l’histoire. Un graphic novel tout en gravures sur Ned Kelly, le hors-la-loi australien symbole de la résistance à l’empire Britannique et mort à 25 ans. Devenu une icône de la pop culture, il a inspiré des films avec Mick Jagger puis Heath Ledger dans le rôle titre et une chanson par Johnny Cash.
Translation: My name is Ned Kelly. I’m twenty five. I was born in nature, in the heart of the bush. Today my end is approaching, but I am not afraid of anything. I made history. A graphic novel all in engravings on Ned Kelly, the Australian outlaw who symbolises resistance to the British Empire and who died at 25 years old. Become an icon of pop culture, he inspired films with Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger in the title role and a song by Johnny Cash.
View: L’historire de Ned Kelly [images]
- 2018
Outlaws From OZ
Issue: #1
Creator: Lucas Scheffel
Publisher: Angry Fred Comics
Date: July 2018
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 11 pagesArtist: Nikita Vasilchuk
Script: Lucas ScheffelSet against the backdrop of pivotal moments in Australian history Outlaws of Oz: The Bushrangers Chronicles delves into a cheeky alternative universe. Welcome to a world where bushrangers and aliens collide against the harsh Australian outback.
In this version of ‘Ned Kelly and the Green Sash’ our protagonist comes up against both state troopers and not-so-little green men. Touted as a one of five, the story begins with a literal bang. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series as the publisher Angry Fred Comics appears to be an outfit that knows how to make quality content. Best of all, this comic can be downloaded for free from their website!
View: Outlaws from OZ [images]
- 2018
Red Ned
Issue: #1
Creator: Tony Wilson
Illustrator: Heath Mckenzie
Publisher: Lake Press
Date: October 2018
Format: Story Book
Extent: 24 pageYou might know the tale of a Kelly named Ned
A bushranger type with a can on his head
He roamed the wild country and caused loads of strife
And went to his death with the words ‘such is life’.A lesser known story is that of Jed Kelly
Who lived in the suburb of Indooroopilli,
A regular eight-year-old boy was young Jed
Except for wild hair that was red, red, red, RED!This is my Ned Kelly story, set in Queensland suburbia, and starring a kid with a self acquired disastrous haircut who is walking around with a wastepaper bin on his head. The illustrations are by the superbly talented Heath McKenzie of ‘Don’t Open This Book’ fame. Funny, a bit silly, rhyming, with a message aimed towards being satisfied with who we are. You are who you are, that’s the truth, such is life!
Tony Wilson
Information: TonyWilson.com.au
- 2019
I AM NED
Issue: #2
Creator: Max Myint
Publisher: House of M
Date: November 2019
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 40 pagesArtist: Zachary Smith-Cameron
Script: Max Myint
Edit: You MatsuyamaNED has been busy. REALLY busy. Taking out Human Farms. Leading a resistance. And after years of operating in the shadows, he has now decided to execute the next phase of his master plan, declaring WAR against the ZWO in the hopes that his provocation will reveal what forces he is truly up against. His antics are starting to show, forcing the MINISTER to have to deal with his presence and the rising concerns of a food shortage.
Information: OwnaIndi.com
- 2020
CRUX
Issue: #1
Creator: Jim Kelly, Lawrence Sagar
Publisher: Squish Comics and Stuff
Date: 2020
Format: Digital Comic
Extent: 72 pagesAuthor: Jim Kelly, Lawrence Sagar
Artist: Jim Kelly, Lawrence SagarTwo homicide detectives investigate an unusual set of circumstances at a scrap yard. In order to determine a motive, they will have to sort through the madness of the killer.
Read: Crux: Chapter One [Part 1]
View: CRUX [images] - 2020
Bloodborne
Chapter: #37
Creator: Qizeaqfile
Publisher: WebToons.com
Editor: Mobclutch
Date: 2020
Format: Digital Comic Book
Extent: 20 panelsQizeaqfile’s impressively written and rendered multi-chapter webtoon, Lady Maria and The Old Hunters, ran from 2020 to 2023 and spanned sixty-six chapters. The comic is based on the action role-playing video game Bloodborne, published by Sony Entertainment in 2015. The story takes place in and around the decrepit gothic, Victorian–era–inspired city of Yharnam, whose inhabitants are afflicted with a blood-borne disease. In this comic series, the anti-heroine, Lady Maria, is aided in her quest by a band of Hunters. One of their main antagonists is Valtr, Master of The League, whose distinctive One-Eyed Iron Helm marks him as a man not to be messed with.
I have dreamt of creating a Bloodborne comic in the style of a manga or graphic novel. Something, I believe, no one has ever done before. There are plenty of great stories in Bloodborne. This comic is a passion project but I’ll make the story as close to the lore as possible. I can’t promise to post a chapter each week, but I’ll aim to create one per month. If you’d like to support me, then I will be eternally grateful, and if not, then I appreciate the time you’ve taken to read this anyway.
Qizeaqfile
Read: Lady Maria and The Old Hunters: Confrontation
View: Bloodborne [images] - TBA
The 5 Revolvers
Issue: #1
Creator: Lucas Scheffel
Publisher: Angry Fred Comics
Date: TBA
Format: Comic Book
Extent: 70 pagesIn the vast expanse of the Australian Outback, legends whispered tales of four iconic bushrangers: Ned Kelly, Ben Hall, Mad Dog Morgan, and Captain Thunderbolt. Now, plucked from their time by an enigmatic alien and hurled into the year 3333, they must grapple with their past and confront an inconceivable future. Kelly, with his brash independence; Hall, the calculated leader; Morgan, wildly unpredictable; and Thunderbolt, the suave mediator—each flawed yet armed with unique strengths. Entrusted with gold revolvers from the 1800s, they’re bound by destiny and a fifth, formidable weapon. Their mission? To challenge Viking-like adversaries threatening humanity’s very essence. As they unlock the latent power of a colossal mech-warrior, they’ll face their deepest fears and rediscover what it means to be legendary.
Link: Kickstarter
- TBA
The Complete Iron Outlaw
Issue: #1
Creator: Greg and Grae
Publisher: ComicOZ
Date: TBA
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: TBAAuthor: Fysh Rutherford
Artist: Gregor McAlpineWith the strength and courage of a thousand Ned Kelly’s comes the complete collection of Greg and Grae’s masterpiece, ‘Iron Outlaw’.
View: The Complete Iron Outlaw [book cover]
- TBA
NED'S DEAD
Issue: #1
Creator: Nahum Ziersch
Publisher: TBA
Date: TBA
Format: Graphic Novel
Extent: TBAArtist: Nahum Ziersch
Script: Nahum Ziersch‘NED’S DEAD’ is a bounty hunter style graphic novel, laced with fantasy elements, set in the early 1890s Australian landscape. The story sees numerous convicts, soldiers, rich folk, along with fearsome genetically mutated, fantasy style beasts collide in this olden style action story. We see a fictitious story build around the notion that Ned didn’t meet his ‘maker’ and was never successfully hanged in the Old Melbourne Gaol. A huge price is put upon his head for his capture (dead or alive) as everything to everyone has their shot at wealth and glory! Bringing the successful hunter a huge reward of wealth and fame, which many folk would never experience in this era. As Australia struggles to find its identity in an English invaded land, a battle brews not only with the Indigenous people (the true custodians), the oppressive English colony and the common people. Their struggles and hardship from day to day create a tense and violent environment – this bounty is too good to refuse! The British government along with corrupt, but newly formed Police are secretly using Convicts and homeless people as their tortured test subjects in early science and military experiments to make a ‘Super Invader Horde’. The ramifications of this are high and dangerous, as experiments go horribly wrong, many convicts die, and dangerous strains of mutant convict DNA is poorly handled, and in most cases not destroyed at all. Some of these horrid experiments do work however, and ‘Slave Beasts’ (mutated convicts) are born – This brings a frightening fantasy element into the overall story. For Ned and his gang, sadly this is one of many obstacles they must face, and destroying these beastly experiments is only part of their quest for freedom.
Information: ArtStation.com
View: NED’S DEAD [images]
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