Review by Frank Plowright
As it’s been four years since the previous collection it seemed two volumes of The Leopard From Lime Street had fulfilled the nostalgic needs of ageing readers remembering the strip from their childhood. Yet here we have Rise of the Snow Beast.
What started as a parody from Tom Tully, was by 1978 a regular source of income, and while never taking seriously the idea of a boy developing powers after being scratched by a radioactive leopard, he ensures Billy Farmer is plucky and likeable. For all the predictability of the adventures in hindsight, back in the day they did their job in keeping young boys enthralled at Billy’s costumed exploits and the dangers they place him in.
Local gang the Vultures continue to be the most uncharacteristic bunch of thugs ever seen in comics, humiliated playing cricket in an early strip here, but become a greater threat when they discover who the Leopard is. Other problems include a tenacious new police officer, a troublesome rock band dressing in Jaguar suits, and the Snow Beast providing the volume title. Artists Mike Western and Eric Bradbury keep their tongues in their cheeks by drawing his first appearance as emerging from a pile of snow in a back garden.
Several other little visual jokes keep them amused providing what was week in, week out three polished pages of naturalistic realism. It’s believed Western provided layouts and Bradbury finishes, which was unusual for British comics in the 1970s, but the combination is constantly beguiling in depicting busy plots.
The Snow Beast is a shambling bulky character in white camouflage rags prowling the neighbourhood at night in winter, the only environment where even he’s vaguely threatening. Preventing the residents of a local farm being evicted, ensuring his own secret identity is safe and a crooked imposter Leopard Man occupy Billy for the remainder of the collection. The social upheavals of the late 1970s have no place here, but slightly more effort with the writing makes this the best Leopard From Lime Street collection to date.
