Miracle Banana pt 1 in this week's Beano

My favourite Bananaman story so far is in this week's Beano, and it's definitely one for the comics fans out there. Miracle Banana is a lightly satirical strip in which Bananaman meets a character who he thinks has ripped him off.

Miracle Banana is, as any comics fan will recognise, based on Miracle Man, formerly known as Marvel Man, who was created in Britain in the 1960s to replace the reprints of US strip Captain Marvel and who closely followed that strip's characters (Billy Batson/Micky Moran says the word Shazam / "Atomic" backwards and becomes a superhero). Captain Marvel himself had been sued by the publishers of Superman who considered him to be rip-off of their character in the first place.

And who appears at the end of this week's Bananaman episode? Well, I won't spoil the surprise, but I can tell you its the first part of a two-parter and next week's strip is a three way battle between Miracle Banana, Bananaman and a character created in the 1940s who's brought a team of lawyers with him.

Bananaman is written by me and drawn by the marvellous Wayne Thompson who brings a TV animation dynamic to my stories. I hope the kids are enjoying them cos they're great fun to write.



Kev F Sutherland runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. He's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years, he must know something.