PULP NOW: LANCE SPEARMAN ~ THE
BLACK JAMES BOND
~ Lance Spearman, has a charming
way with girls and a deadly way with thugs ~
Look-books—a term
coined for magazines featuring a mash up of action photographs accompanied by
comic strip style captions (also known as photo
books)—are relatively unknown in America. However in many other parts of
the world, this comic book hybrid of captioned action photographs had a rabid
following from the ‘60s to the late ‘80s. In Africa, look-books served as
surrogates for films—as a means to tell film-like stories— at a time when
commercial African cinema was not yet invented.
African Film Magazine (AFM) was the most popular of
the African look-books. Alternately called Spear
Magazine, every bi-weekly issue had eager fans clamoring for it at their
local newsstand. Created by James Richard Abe Bailey, the character of Lance
Spearman shattered racist stereotypes of the uncivilized, uneducated,
spear-carrying Africans as portrayed in most Western comic books of the era. Each
issue of AFM contained thirty one pages of action filled black and white
captioned photographs edited in urbane cinematic style.
AFM began publishing
the Spear’s adventures during the African post-colonial era of the mid-sixties under
the banner of Drum Publications. The magazine found immediate popularity, with
every issue flooding across Anglophone Africa, from Nigeria and Ghana to South
Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
~ Drum Publications—tired of the clichéd racist images of Black people
in contrast to the heroic images of white soldiers and superheroes in Western
comics—decided to create comic books that would appeal to Black men. They began
photographing black men in adventures that were designed to appeal to the Black
African population. ~ Balogun
The responsibility for AFM’s phenomenal success rested
squarely on the fictional adventures of one man—the dashing, straw-hatted,
bow-tied, sport-jacketed, fast driving, Whiskey on the rocks drinking, cool cat,
Lance Spearman—the black James Bond. A decade before Shaft redefined cool for
American audiences, the Spear was out Bonding Bond, battling an ever more
outrageous array of colorful, over-the-top evil villains with every issue.
An expert marksman, skilled at karate and boxing, the Spear
(as he was nicknamed) is a rollicking combination of African super-spy,
detective, and superhero. He rocks a goatee, smokes expensive cigars, drinks
good Scotch, and dresses in well-tailored suits complete with bow tie and
Panama hat. He likes his women buxom and his cars fast—particularly his
Corvette Stingray. His favored handgun is a Beretta he calls my little friend.
~ He is the black James Bond and the most popular fictional character
in Africa today..” ~ Stanley Meisler, Los Angeles Times foreign and
diplomatic correspondent, 1968.
Virtually leaping off the pages of AFM, the Spear captured
the dream of a new generation of urban African youth. These were young men and
women who left their villages for the cities in search of a better life. The
Spear became a touchstone, helping to shape their view of their place in an
empowered new world.
The Spear was Western hip without losing or hiding his
distinctly African cultural identity. Eating fine foods, loving beautiful women,
the Spear possessed a slightly arrogant, self-confident, easy talking style,
which made him equally at home mingling in high society or fighting dirty in a back
alley street.
Lance Spearman spoke directly and individually to so many of
those who followed his adventures. He created an idealized view of modern
Africa, delivering regular doses of self-esteem, personal dreams, and hope to
readers searching for relevant role models.
~ My mother was an ardent reader of this magazine. She would make sure
every week she bought a copy at Kingstone Bookstore next to Shoprite on Cairo
Road. Our home was like library, friends would come to read these. ~ Chris
Phiri
Employing budget conscious improvisational methods (the trademark
Corvette Stingray was often a photo of a Dinky Toy), the Spear’s adventures
were captured through vibrant action-filled photographs. This alternative to the
poorly drawn comic art available at the time available created a do-it-yourself
movement of self-reliance, producing an attitude eventually assimilated into Nollywood movie making as well as the
coming explosion of ‘70s era Blaxploitation in America.
At the peak of AFM’s bi-weekly popularity, Lance Spearman
had over half a million fans across Africa. At that time, AFM printed 30,000
copies of each fourteen cent magazine. Every issue consistently sold out,
creating an active and lucrative second-hand market.
~ The overloaded phrase, ‘second-hand Good Samaritan’, meant the person
who lent us a copy had borrowed it from somebody, who had borrowed it from
somebody, etc. etc. So we read it as, not second but, tenth or even
twentieth-hand. All of which meant by the time it reached us, it was in hardly
readable tatters! ~ Ingina y'Igihanga
Compared to today’s multi-millions of fans who hang on every
hundred and forty word belch from celebrity Twitter feeds, a mere half a
million fans may be considered negligible. However, the Spear earned his half
million Lancers in the ‘60s—before
the Internet was even the spark of an idea—in a time when people wrote letters by
hand with no conception of e-mail. From that perspective, Lance Spearman was a
celebrity god.
Surprisingly, considering the ethnic centered politics of
the era, the photographic and writing forces behind Lance Spearman were a multi-racial
team effort. Omitting any reference to their actual South African headquarters
(company info inside the magazines indicated offices in the less controversial Kenya
and Nairobi), Drum Publications became a valuable training ground for emerging
African writers such as Can Themba, Nat Nakassa and Nigeria’s Nelson Ottah.
Along a number of students from the University of Lesotho—who were also given their
entre into magazine writing—were paid $65 per Lance Spearman story.
Due to a fear of apartheid censorship, Drum publisher Jim
Bailey avoided any stories of a racial or political nature. He also published
several different versions of the magazine, which contained the same interior stories,
but under different titles to fit the varying demographics between South Africa
and East and West Africa.
~ These were the comics of our time! You would do anything to get the
latest series. Often we had to wait in line to borrow from a friend who had
one—even do their home chores if need be! The one I liked most was when Zollo
tied Spear on a rope and lowered him into this big boiling pot, but of course
Spear escaped. Hahaha...Made us love reading. ~ Sewanywa Sekiswa
The finished stories were sent to Johannesburg, South Africa,
where Malcolm Dunkfeld, a white South African, oversaw the editing. From there,
the scripts were sent to Swaziland where black cameramen under the direction of
white photographers Stanley N. Bunn and Trevor Barrett, staged and shot the
scenes from the stories. Finally, the completed issues were mastered and
printed in London before being shipped back to South Africa for distribution.
Filling the roles of the characters in the stories was a
troop of amateur black actors. These included Jore Mkwanazi, the man who would
become the embodiment of Lance Spearman. A former houseboy, Mkwanazi was discovered
playing piano in a nightclub by Stanley N. Bunn on of the directors of
photography. Bunn saw in Mkwanazi’s features the tough, cynical, sophisticated look
he believed was needed for the role of a black super-spy. Skyrocketing from
earning $35 a month for scrubbing floors to $215 monthly, Mkwanazi exploded
into the African consciousness, becoming an indelible black liberation icon.
~ Yeah, my hero. Dapper with Scotch-on-the-rocks his favourite drink.
There is his Little Friend—a Beretta in a holster under his well-tailored suit.
He smokes expensive cigars and wears a panama hat. In later editions, his most
trusted allies were Sonia, a karate kicking baaad lady, a catapult wielding
youngster named Lemmy, and a uniformed police officer Captain Victor... ~
Sulubu Tuva
The Spear also surrounded himself with loyal action-ready allies.
Closest to him was his agile assistant, Sonia, a high kicking, karate chopping
beauty who was never a damsel in distress. Lemmy, who never missed a target
with his catapult, was the Spear’s young sidekick, who provided a vulnerable
and humanistic edge to the stories. There was also the bulky strength and
tenacity of the quick thinking Capitan Victor, who often provide the Spear with
backup.
With the help of Sonia, Lemmy, and Captain Victor, readers
could always trust the Spear to escape from any situation no matter how dire. This
was a fearsome foursome to be reckoned with, their respect for one another
providing yet another positive influence to come from the series.
~ The dialogue was hip and contemporary, in the manner of the racy
thrillers of James Hadley Chase, the hottest writer we cherished back then. The
lines were indeed riveting such that one readily committed them to memory that
lasts to this day. For instance, the thug bearing down on Sonia gets the
following words from Spear as he steps forward for a fight: “Woman-beater, try
me for size!” Before the hoodlum can get to the races, Spear lands him the
sucker-punch, saying: “You have a glass jaw!” With the fallen thug crying
“Aaaaaargh!” Lemmy would congratulate Spear thus: “Attaboy, Spear!” ~ Uzor
Maxim Uzoatu
Then there were the Spear’s colorful enemies. Described as menace in overdrive, Rabon Zollo bore a hideous black eye-patch over his missing
eye. The Hook-Hand Killer, who obviously killed using the evil hook on his
hand. Dr. Devil, a criminal mastermind whose electronic wizardry threatened to direct
international experimental rockets off course. Mad Doc, an insane inventor who
created a serum with the power to shrink people. Professor Thor used a vile machine to read minds, while
Professor Rubens used the organs of animals to produce a werewolf.
There were also other villains, such as Themermolls,
Countess Scarlett, and The Head Huntress. But the menace of The Cat presented
Spear with possibly his greatest challenge—a black-masked cat burglar who used
clawed gloves to scale any building or rip to shreds anyone who tried to stop him.
Battling them all, Spear was always the colossus positive force who would save
the world.
~ Lance Spearman was our own James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Bauer all
rolled into one... ~ Jimmy Mungai
With their combination of extreme cartoon-like violence and
influences from early Hollywood melodramas, AFM and other look-books were
important precursors to the emergence of African cinema. They also had influence
on the rise of African crime fiction—readers of Lance Spearman finding needed
encouragement to create heroes of their own in a world of black nationalism.
1972. after one hundred and fifty issues, AFM suddenly
disappeared from the newsstand without any official explanation. The politics
of apartheid were the most likely cause, as used copies of the magazine also
disappeared from the mainstream becoming a valuable covert smuggling commodity.
However, the strongest rumor among devastated fans was Lance Spearman had died—or
at least the actor who portrayed him. None of this has ever been confirmed, but
loyal readers of the Spear’s adventures refused to believe he was dead.
~ Spear could never die, we told ourselves. We had to make do with
smuggled back issues of African Film dating back to the 1960s and even the
years covering the 1967-70 duration of the Nigeria-Biafra War. We devoured the
back issues waiting for the inevitable day that the unbeatable Lance Spearman
would make a triumphant return, as it stood as a given to us that his death was
quite impossible. ~ Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
While Lance Spearman is criticized in politically correct circles
for his perceived stereotypical portrayal of blackness and masculinity, his
adventures were ultimately responsible for raising the self-esteem and personal
consciousness of a generation of readers. There could be no more beautiful or
positive legacy.
I wish I could find and purchase all the episodes of Film Magazine and Boom...
ReplyDeleteRemembering those days!!
ReplyDeleteDid they make movies of spear?
ReplyDeleteWhere can I get the film magazines now?
Anyone with copies, hard or soft, get in touch please!
ReplyDeleteI was a huge fan of FILM and BOOM and sadly had to give up my collection when coming to the UK in 1974. I desperately wish I had kept my copies.
ReplyDeleteThe Fire goddess was my favorite,anyone with a copy?
ReplyDeleteI loved reading African Film when I was very young back then. I couldn't wait for my dad to come home with a copy every Thursday. I devoured every copy. I loved Lance Spearman. I wish I can find all the copies from 1968 - 1972. But what happened to the actor Jore Mkwanazi, who played Spear???? Does any one know???
ReplyDelete