ROY CRANE'S BUZ SAWYER Volume 5 Island of the Lotus Eaters

A classic strip by one of the finest comic strip artists of his day. Straight from the headlines of the day, these eleven stories propel ace troubleshooter Buz Sawyer from Africa to South America to the Arctic Circle, from the heart of a hurricane to a plague of ravenous locusts. Meanwhile, back home, a femme fatale seduces Buz’s C.O. to steal military secrets. Then, it’s every parent’s worst nightmare -- Buz and Christy’s new baby is kidnapped right from the hospital! Roy Crane, dean of the golden age of adventure comic strips, peppers these rollicking tales with rapid-fire action, suspense, intrigue, humor, unforgettable characters, and brilliant art. Now, at last, you can enjoy these stories, unseen since the 1950s. Look inside -- and brace yourself for a wild ride! Daily strips, 3 per page, from June 16 1952 to May 7, 1955. From Wikipedia: During World War II, the adventurous John Singer Sawyer, nicknamed Buz Sawyer, became a Naval Aviator and flew as an ace Navy fighter and dive bomber pilot in the Pacific Theater where he had numerous adventures with his sidekick, enlisted Naval Aircrewman Rosco Sweeney. As a civilian in the post-World War II years, Buz became an oil company troubleshooter, traveling to far-flung locales. He married Christy Jameson on 13 December 1948, and their son Pepper was born in 1951. Buz rejoined the Navy in the 1950s and flew carrier-based reconnaissance attack jets over Vietnam during the 1960s. Roy Crane was one of the innovators of the adventure comic strip. His seminal Wash Tubbs began in 1924 as a humorous story about the romantic adventures of Washington Tubbs, but increasingly Tubbs became involved in exciting adventures in exotic places. With the creation of the popular soldier of fortune Captain Easy in 1929, the strip became, along with Tarzan of the Apes and Buck Rogers, one of the first adventure strips. However, Crane was an employee of the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicate, which owned the rights to the Tubbs and Easy characters. Crane approached King Features with an idea for a new strip, and when they offered him ownership, he abandoned Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy in 1943, giving full concentration to launching Buz Sawyer. Crane remembered the events this way: I drew Wash Tubbs until 1943, when I started drawing Buz Sawyer. It was during World War II, so I decided to make Buz a Navy pilot. It promised lots of action, and I also felt that I would be making a contribution to the war effort. Before actually starting the strip, and to insure authenticity, I did a great deal of research. I’ve always loved to travel, so I went to many different places in search of information that I could use in the strip; I even spent some time aboard an aircraft carrier. In addition, I gathered together a very large collection of Navy photographs to use as background material. Action is one of the most important elements in a strip. In fact, I feel that graphic pictorialization is the essence of the comic strip medium and that is what makes it a unique art form. When newspapers cut the size of the comic strip until there is no room left for anything but dialogue, then that will be the end of comics. The rendering of Buz Sawyer is done with Craftint; a technique pioneered in this strip as well as in Wash Tubbs. I have always been interested in trying new techniques, and I especially try to capture a three-dimensional quality in the strip.