Category: Miscellaneous

Adapted by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane & Jim Woodring (DC Comics)
ISBN: 1-56389-006-2

Richard Wagner’s four operas Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfreid and Götterdämmerung (or The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods if you’re less pompous than me) is a classic distillation of Germano-Norse myth and the classic poems collected as the Icelandic Eddas. Over twenty-six years the master of German music distilled them into a cycle of staggering power, which people either love or hate. Great tunes, too.

Everybody loves the brilliant animated tribute-come-distillation starring Bugs Bunny entitled “What’s Opera, Doc?” – although they probably refer to it as “Kill the Wabbit!”

Joking aside, the Ring Cycle is a true masterpiece of Western Culture and an immortal inspiration to purveyors of drama and historic fiction. In 1989 and 1990 long-time fans and comics superstars Roy Thomas (who had already integrated the plot into the canon of Marvel’s Mighty Thor) and Gil Kane produced a four part, prestige-format miniseries that adapted the events into comic strip form. Latterly P. Craig Russell also adapted the saga in his own inimitable style.

Alberich the Nibelung is a dwarf shunned by all, but still manages to charm the three Rhine Maidens. Commanded to guard an accursed treasure horde that even the Gods could not tame, the river nymphs reveal the secret to the glib intruder. Whoever casts ‘The Rhinegold’ into a ring will have all the wealth and power of the world, but must forever forswear love and joy. Never having known either, greedy Alberich easily forsakes their pleasures and seizes the treasure that even All-Father Wotan feared to touch.

Meanwhile in Heaven wily Loge has convinced Wotan to promise the giants Fasolt and Fafner anything they wish if they build the great castle Valhalla to house the world’s heroes. Assured that the trickster god can free him from his promise to the giants Wotan accepts their price, but on completion the giants want Freia; goddess of the apples of immortality.

Bound by their Lord’s sworn oath the gods must surrender Freia, but malicious Loge suggests that Alberich’s stolen gold – now cast as a ring – can be used by any other possessor without abandoning love. The brothers demand the world-conquering trinket as a replacement fee…

In ‘The Valkyrie’, the warrior who calls himself “Woeful” is the sole survivor of a blood-feud. Fleeing, he claims Right of Hospitality from a beautiful woman in a remote cottage. But when her husband returns they discover that he is a member of the clan Woeful battled.

Secure for the night in the holy bond of Hospitality, Woeful realises that he must battle for his life in the morning when the sacred truce expires. Without weapons he thinks little of his chances until the woman reveals to him a magic sword embedded in the giant Ash tree that supports the house…

‘Siegfried’ is the child of an illicit union raised by malicious, cunning Mime, a blacksmith who knows the secrets of the Nibelung. No loving parent, the smith wants the indomitable wild boy to kill the dragon Fafner, who used to be a giant, and steal the magical golden horde the wyrm guards so jealously.

But the young hero has his own heroic dreams and wishes to wake the maiden who slumbers eternally behind a wall of fire…

‘Twilight of the Gods’ reveals how all the machinations, faithlessness and oath-breaking of the Lords of Creation lead to ultimate destruction. Siegfried has won his beauteous Brünnhilde from the flames but their happiness is not to be. False friends drug him to steal his beloved, and wed him unknowing to a women he does not love. A final betrayal by a comrade whose father was the Nibelung Alberich leads to his death and inevitable consequences…

If you know the operas you know how much more remains to enjoy in this quartet of tales, and the sheer bravura passion of Kane’s art, augmented by the stirring painted palette of Jim Woodring, magnificently captures the grandeur and ferocity of it all. This primal epic is visual poetry and no fan should be without it.

Released by DC in 1991, the book was re-issued by ExPress Publishing (ISBN-13: 978-0-93295-620-0) in 2002 and remains not only a high-point in the careers of Thomas and Kane, but also a landmark in graphic narrative. If you don’t have it already you must make it your life’s quest to get it…
© 1991 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

By Jerry Siegel, Paul Reinman & various (Belmont)
B50 695

Sometimes it’s cold and wet outside, the deadline’s thundering upon you, the cat’s been sick on your shoe and there’s only Rich Tea biscuits in the biccy-barrel. What can possible lighten the mood in such circumstances? For me it’s the sheer guilty indulgence of comics from early childhood that have the special ability to transport one back to a specific moment in time and space, redolent with joy and powerful, inexpressible emotion: a complete sensorium submersion that still leaves me breathless now.

It was a Wednesday; the last week of the summer holidays. I’d gone down to the (now sadly departed) Woolworth’s store with me Mum. She wanted tea-towels and I needed exercise, and I always got a treat when we hit the main High Street of our little town.

Woolworth’s at the time used to sell ballast and bargains books from America in deep wire bins. For sixpence. Sometimes two for sixpence, and three for a Shilling. Every visit would begin with a dazzling glance at a hodge-podge of primary colours and corners sticking out between the wires.

I was trying to get one last atom of flavour from the unique, dry pink plastic “chewing gum” (there was never that much to begin with) that had accompanied the four Tarzan gum cards in the pack we’d purchased on our walk (a good one: three I hadn’t got and a full-figure swap I could paste into my sketch-book). Despite having no discernible taste, the sugar pink smell of the gum intensified the more you chewed and it was almost overpowering when my chubby little paw alighted on the garish item at the top of the jumble.

Precocious and annoying, I’d been collecting US science fiction paperbacks, Ace, Belmont, McFadden-Bartell and the like for about a year, and comics of all nations for a darn sight longer. But what I grasped then was a revelation. It was the first time I had seen comics in book format. In black and white, and read on its side, this book seared into my brain. It was my first introduction to the unrestricted insanity of Jerry Siegel’s pastiche of Marvel Comics style on Archie Comics’ aged pantheon of superheroes. Of course I knew none of that then: I just knew these were weird, wild and utterly over the top!

I soon found other paperback collections – most of the American comics publishers used the “Batman Bounce” to get out of their ghetto and onto “proper” bookshelves – but this first book always held an extra charge they didn’t. I read it to death and then found my current copy on a market stall for 1/6 (that’s one shilling and six pennies for all you callow juveniles out there – incredible inflation but worth every penny to me).

Looking at it with as much cold dispassion as I can muster, there’s not a lot to recommend it to others. Archie revived their Golden Age stable when superheroes became a mid-sixties craze; fueled as much by Marvel’s burgeoning success as the Batman TV show, but they couldn’t imbue them with drama and integrity to match the superficial zany-ness – nor I suspect did they want too.

But as harmless adventures for the younger audience they have a tawdry charisma of their own and the hyperbolic scripting of Siegel touched the right note at just the right moment for a lot of kids.

Collected and resized from Mighty Comics Presents, an anthological clearing-house title fully written by Siegel, comes ‘Steel Sterling Vs The Monster Master‘ illustrated by Paul Reinman (with what looks like some subtle assistance from Mike Sekowsky and Chic Stone), whilst The Shield tackles the astounding ‘Gladiator from Tomorrow‘ and overcomes low esteem and the mysterious Hangman in ‘Suffer Shield, Suffer!‘ which are all pure Reinman.

Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, The Fly had been renamed to milk the camp craze. ‘Fly Man’s Strangest Dilemma‘ features the biggest cop-out ending of the decade (truly!) and the collection concludes with excerpt and origin from an adventure of The Web, a Batman clone who had the singular distinction of having to sneak out to fight crime because his wife Rosie disapproved.

As awful as this may sound I love this book and if anyone out there feels like giving it a chance, or even coming clean about their own unspeakable tomes, I’m going to support you all the way…
© 1966 Radio Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved.

There are few comic characters that have entered world consciousness, but a grizzled, bluff, uneducated, visually impaired old seaman with a speech-impediment is possibly the most well known of that select bunch. Elzie Segar had been producing Thimble Theatre since December 19th, 1919, but when he introduced a coarse, brusque “Sailor Man” into the saga of Ham Gravy and Castor Oyl on January 29th, 1929 nobody suspected the heights that walk-on would reach…

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY POPEYE!

By Fred Kida & various (Ken Pierce)
No ISBN

Airboy was one of the very best adventure strips of the Golden Age; one with a terrific pedigree and a profound legacy. Created for Hillman Periodicals by the brilliant Charles Biro (Steel Sterling, Crimebuster, the original Daredevil, the Little Wiseguys and the landmark genre prototype Crime Does Not Pay number among his many triumphs) it featured a plucky teen and his fabulous super-airplane, affectionately dubbed ‘Birdie’.

In his more than twelve years of publication the boy-hero tackled the Axis powers, crooks, aliens, monsters, demons and every possible permutation of sinister threat – even subversive giant rats and ants!. The gripping scripts, initially the work of Dick Wood, took the avenging aviator all over the world and pitted him against some of the most striking adversaries in comics.

The most notable of these was undoubtedly the conflicted Nazi Air Ace known as Valkyrie, who flew the killer skies with a squadron of lethal lovelies codenamed The Airmaidens.

Their first duel happened in Air Fighters Comics volume 2, #2 (November 1943), a full year after the hero’s debut, and featured art by up-and coming Fred Kida, twenty-three years old, utterly besotted with the work of Milton Caniff, and ably inked by Bill Quackenbush.

‘Airboy Meets Valkyrie’ found the lad based at an RAF base when a daring raid by the Airmaidens occurs. Following the planes home Airboy is captured and tortured but his stoic bravery inspires the warrior-women to defect…

This simple but evocative tale was followed in by a sequel in Air Fighters Comics volume 2, #7 (April, 1944). ‘The Death Lights’ with Kida in full artistic control, deals with a new Nazi beam weapon that Airboy fails to destroy. Captured once more he is rescued by the Airmaidens, now a crack allied fighter squadron.

They didn’t meet again until 1946 by when Air Fighters had changed its name to Airboy Comics. From volume 2, #12. ‘The Return of Misery’ features the ghostly spirit who claims the souls of downed airmen, imprisoning them in his eerie flying dungeon “the Airtomb”. Entranced by the monster Val is rescued by the valiant lad, but in the end no flyer ever escapes Misery…

‘An American Legend’ from Airboy Comics volume 3, #6 (July 1946) sees Kida growing fully into his own lush yet chiaroscuric style (this book is printed in black and white, which makes the art even bolder than the often muddy-coloured original comics). In this tale Airboy finds an old war buddy and Val has been brainwashed into committing crimes, leading him to end the villain responsible with typical military efficiency.

This slim tome concludes with the last Valkyrie tale of the period: a lacklustre script that was more concerned with the rise of “the Reds” than character or plot. It is notable however as an early experiment in crossover continuity. ‘The Wind of Battle’ (Airboy Comics volume 3, #12: January 1947) pitted Airboy and his occasional ally in battle against the “Asiatic” tyrant Black Tamerlane.

The story ended with the pair in the villain’s hypnotic clutches and the back-up star Skywolf (a feature of the comic since the Air Fighter days) was seconded to wrap up the saga in his own strip – a riotous action romp that dotted all the “i’s” and dotted all the “t’s”.

Airboy folded with volume 10, #4 (May 1953) and wasn’t seen in new material until Eclipse Comics revived the character and cast in 1986, and this little gem from that crusading guardian of Popular Culture Ken Pierce may well have been instrumental in that splendid return.

Although still readily available through online vendors and comic shops, the reproduction in this book is poor in places even if the quality and excitement shines through. It’s well overdue for a revamped re-release now that it can benefit from all the advances of modern print technology. I eagerly await such a volume especially if room can be found for all Kida’s efforts and not just the most sinister and sexy ones…
© 1982 Ken Pierce Inc. Subsequent © whoever owns the trademark now.

By David B., translated by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics Books and Coconino Press)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56097-809-1

The second release (I hesitate to call it a volume, as the format, though bold and wonderful, is more than a magazine but less than a book) from the eclectic and surreal ongoing masterpiece of French creator David B. continues the startling, intimate tale of the artist and his family through the most evocative years of recent history.

Printed using only black and red screens, the tale resumes with the artist recalling how, as children, he and his brother became obsessed with all the far-flung wars as seen in their grandfather’s old issues of Paris Match. Especially affecting were the pictures of the natives of Papua, New Guinea…

Years later, as a teenager he reads more of the Papuans and tries to apply their striking beliefs and convictions as he comes to terms with his brother’s crippling epilepsy. Via surreal and introspective diversions, the artist arrives at a point where he can picture how the Algerian conflict (ongoing during his childhood) might actually be unfolding…

David B is a founder member of the groundbreaking strip artists group L’Association, and has won numerous awards including the Alph’ Art for comics excellence and European Cartoonist of the Year (by the Comics Journal) in 1998. His seamless blending of artistic Primitivism, visual metaphor, and high and low cultural icons makes this work (the 8th book of his “Ignatz” saga) a mesmeric and darkly lyrical treat for anyone who needs more meat in their narrative.

Wrapped in a fabulous gate-fold wraparound cover with a fascinating strip exploring the cultural significance of the horse to the Native American (part of the Acta Zoolologica sequence that describes “psychopompic” animals) this is not a book for everyone, but for the open-minded it offers truly magical experiences.

© 2006 David B. Book edition © 2006 Fantagraphics Books and Coconino Press.

Illustrated by Craig Cameron (Egmont)
ISBN: 978-1-4052-3750-5

One of the absolute best bits about being a comics fan – or any kind of collecting hobbyist – is the semi-obsessive thrill that comes from chasing a set. We’re all suckers for the thrill of hunting a missing number and that’s all the better if the book in question is a great read and visually memorable.

And it’s never too early to start. Roley and the Woodland Walk is a surprisingly well written book for the very young based on the popular TV series featuring the affable steamroller and all the animals in Sunflower Valley in a delightful comedy of errors, with sensible Bob once again having to come to the rescue.

Designed for small hands, the book is 34 pages plus covers and has 13 lavish, eye-catching full-page illustrations. It is number #5 in the Bob the Builder Story Library, cunningly enumerated on the spine, and has ads for the other titles in the back, just like all the best comics do (eight to collect, so far, kids!).

In our electronic, post-literate culture, kids need every aid and inducement to pick up the reading bug, and these lush little pictorials are a perfect primer for a life of reading comics and books. They’re also superbly well crafted and re-readable if you’re the adult having to narrate them at bedtime.

Gotta Get ’em All!

© 2008 HIT Entertainment Limited and Keith Chapman. All Rights Reserved.

By Cheung, Man Wai (DrMaster Publications)
ISBN13: 978-1-59796-069-4

I’ve seen a lot of “How To…” books in my time and this new edition of a tract first published by ComicsOne Corp. in 2004 is definitely one of the best; although I have to say right from the outset that this is not about the specific creation of Japanese style Manga.

This book reveals the creative philosophy and secrets of comics produced for the Hong Kong market, and, superficial resemblances notwithstanding, there’s a world of difference. Almost exclusively a martial arts themed industry, the Hong Kong drawing style concentrates on a (relatively) representational interpretation of the perfected human form, more akin to the superhero anatomy of Burne Hogarth, Gil Kane and John Romita Senior, than the expressionistic abstractions and formulations of Manga or the edgy East/West amalgam that typifies the Manhwa of South Korea. Western superhero artists could learn a lot from this book.

The book itself covers all the accepted basics, Conceptualisation, Drawing and particular effects, Character Design, Illustrating Scenarios, (you and I would call it drawing the script), Scriptwriting for Kung Fu comics, and even proper speech-balloon placement.

Their chapter on Perspective is one of the clearest that I’ve ever seen, and does the reader the decency of baldly revealing that getting it right is actually damned hard work, and that it really does matter: something a lot of books – and tutors – are pretty reluctant to admit.

Superbly, copiously and relevantly illustrated throughout, the book also contains a tutorial section and an extensive gallery-come-swipe-file. In fact my only quibble (and there’s always one) is that the entire interior is in economical black-and-white, whereas the crowning glory of the comics themselves is lush and lavish multi-media colour. It’s a shame a glossy insert wasn’t in the budget.

© 2005 DrMaster Publications Inc.

By various (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-916-6

The summer volume of the alternative, cutting edge cartoon-arts anthology presents even more new creators to augment the fabulous regulars behind a compelling cover by European creator Killoffer- plus a fascinating extended, illustrated interview with typographer and artist Ray Fenwick whose telling vignettes are peppered throughout this book.

After a cool spoof of ‘Poker Dogs’ by Kurt Wolfgang, the book proper opens with a silent chiller entitled ‘5:45 AM’ by Al Columbia followed by the exceptional (and equally wordless) ‘Einmal ist Keinmal’ by cover artist Killoffer. The sixth part of Wolfgang’s ‘Nothing Eve’ follows, and although still compelling visually, the protracted story-plot is becoming a distant memory – hopefully a future collection will allow the full power and verve of the narrative to compete fairly with the magical illustration.

Nate Neal channels classic Underground Comix of the Sixties with the portmanteau strip-jam ‘The 5 Simple Cosmic Do Dats’, and Ray Fenwick’s ‘Truth Bear’ tells it like it is before the superb Eleanor Davis takes the breath away with ‘The 10,000 Rescues’ another silent strip featuring those plucky li’l gals Dot and Louisa.

Dash Shaw returns with the mesmeric ‘The Galactic Funnels’ followed by the returning John Hankiewicz, who provides a disturbing moment in Jazz history entitled ‘Those Eyes’. Émile Bravo’s ‘A Question of Human Resources’ provides a typically Gallic view of Workers and Politics whilst Andrice Arp’s seductive full page illustrations ask ‘The Question is “How Did This Happen?”’, ‘The Problem is “What Do We Do Now?”’, ‘How Much Longer is This Going to Go On?’ and ‘How Many More Times is This Going to Happen?’

‘Shoes’ from Conor O’Keefe is a wistful, faux elegiac watercolour strip reminiscent of the very beginnings of our art form, followed by the aforementioned Fenwick interview, after which O’Keefe returns with ‘Fly’. ‘Million Year Boom’ is a chilling cautionary tale from Tom Kaczynski whilst Paul Hornschemeier offers an illustrated prose vignette ‘The Guest Speaker’ to accompany the ninth part of his urban saga ‘Life With Mr Dangerous’, which follows. Closing this volume is Ray Fenwick’s trenchant ‘Cre-A-Tor in “Trial & Omni-Error”’.

Whether you’re new to comics, new to the areas beyond the mainstream or just want something new; these strips and this publication will always offer a decidedly different read. You may not like all of it, and perhaps the serializations should provide recaps (but don’t) but Mome will always have something you can’t help but respond to. You really should try it…

Mome © 2008 Fantagraphics Books. Individual stories are © the respective creator with the exception of “A Question of Human Resources” © 2008 Dargaud by Bravo with rights arranged through Sylvia Coissard Agency. All Rights Reserved.

A pull-tab and play book

Illustrations by Dick Bruna (Egmont)
ISBN: 978-1-4052-4062-8

Fewer and fewer people read these days. Especially kids. My wife told me a story of a friend (no kids yet) who recently bought a little girl a book for her birthday. The other mothers frowned and tutted. One kind soul offered to let her go halves on her own gift: nightmare-inducing, giant-headed fashion dolls wearing salacious outfits and hooker make-up. They were all tragically correct. The book, a golden classic of childhood, lay all but unwrapped, a single torn corner of shiny paper revealing it to be words on paper, not plastic or metal or electronic.

In a world with so many flashing distractions children now need to be seduced into reading – and that as soon as possible. Miffy Goes to the Zoo is a pop-up book for the very young based on Dick Bruna’s classic little girl-rabbit character.

When the first book Miffy Goes to the Zoo was published in 1955 Miffy (or Nijntje as she is in the original Dutch) was rendered much more realistically, but Bruna, a relentless perfectionist, refined his creation continually and by 1963 the almost abstract minimalist version we all know was finalised and the book was reissued with the artwork altered. It is this version that the pop-up book is based on.

Bruna has produced over 100 books with sales of over 80 million world-wide, Nijntje has more than thirty titles across the planet in 40 languages and the little rabbit is a global brand with toys, games, TV shows, and everything else you’d expect from such a household name.

The book themselves are 16 pages of verse and primary coloured illustration, designed small to fit the hands of children (the target audience is 4-8 year olds) and with topics children know or might experience such as schools, hospitals or shopping. In the award winning Dear Grandma Bunny (1997) Bruna even tackled loss and bereavement in a tale where Miffy’s grandmother passes away. Of especially interest here, some books such as Miffy’s Dream have no text at all, using pictures alone to carry the narrative – a perfect training ground for future comics readers.

This version has all the charm and simple beauty of the 1963 book, and the physical animations are absolutely amazing, pop-up, fold-outs, rotating images and hidden surprises and, mercifully, no electronic voices, bleeps or sound effects to distract from what is still essentially a reading device for contemplation. This kind of traditional innovation wedded to a trusted character brand is vital to getting kids hooked on books.

Perhaps if that well-meaning but naive lady had taken this along instead there might have been a less embarrassing outcome at the birthday party.

It’s never too late…

© Mercis bv, 1953-2008. Licensed by Mercis Publishing bv, Amsterdam. All Rights Reserved.