Loki: Journey into Mystery


By Katherine Locke (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-80336-254-0 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-80336-255-7

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Marvelous Mischief and Merriment … 7/10

Modern Marvel is a truly multimedia entertainment colossus but all those many branches and subdivisions ultimately derive from stories in comic books. Thanks to recent developments in movie and television interpretations, primal Marvel Age villain Loki is now a hot property, which no doubt inspired this prose reinterpretation based on his comics reinvention in the early 21st century…

Marvel’s sustained presence on non-graphic bookshelves began in the 1990s with a string of hardback novels. Since then, those who want to supply their own pictures to gripping MU exploits have enjoyed a successive string of text-based thrills in all book formats. Titan Books has been supplying such powerhouse prose publications and here addresses the interests of fans brought in by the Thor and Avengers movies as well as those lifelong devotees of the ever-enlarging continuity who can’t bear to miss a single instance of their fave raves.

Written by Katherine Locke (The Girl with the Red Balloon, This Rebel Heart, The Spy with the Red Balloon), Loki: Journey into Mystery magically transforms a classic comic book saga: component parts of 2011’s publishing event Fear Itself and later tales spinning out of it. Primarily interpreting expanding and elaborating upon work by Keiron Gillen, these delve into what happened to an inveterate villain desperately seeking renewal and salvation… or is that one last Hail Mary ploy to escape an apparently inescapable fate?

All You Need to Know: as his last wicked scheme was spectacularly failing, the Asgardian God of Evil seeming had a too-late change of heart, but perished anyway and was reborn as a young boy…

What May Help: running from April to November 2011, Fear Itself shook up the Marvel Universe. In its wake, Gillen’s spin-off Loki Series appeared in Journey into Mystery starring a rejuvenated and mostly repentant (for which perhaps read forewarned and “once-bitten-twice-shy”) juvenile and rejuvenated God of Mischief, Stories and Lies, trying to be helpful, and keen to not end up like and dying just like his previous self …

The multi-part, intercompany braided comic book megasaga Fear Itself focused on Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and The Avengers, recounting how an ancient Asgardian menace was aroused by the Red Skull. Awake and hungry Asgard’s primordial fear-god possessed seven of Earth’s mightiest mortals, compelling them to wreak unimaginable death and destruction on the global population whilst he drank in the terror the rampages generated. In response, Odin decided to deprive The Serpent of sustenance by destroying Earth…

The core miniseries was supported by dozens of sidebar series and tie-ins focussing on peripheries of the main event. The saga of an antediluvian Asgardian menace sparking a terrifying bloodbath of carnage to feed on the fear of mankind and topple the established Norse pantheon was the stepping stone to Loki’s advancement. With all that spiritual energy unleashed other supernatural entities felt threatened and boy Loki realised that it was up to him to do what he could. The Nine Realms were grievously disrupted and the nation-city of Asgard crashed to Earth in Broxton, Oklahoma. The merging of human and godly culture was a shock to all but at least now “Kid Loki” could get Wi-Fi and good phone reception…which was immeasurably helpful as his old magic was curtailed by his new principles…

By tangentially recapitulating, extrapolating and embellishing what a scared, guilt-ridden and forewarned potential universal nemesis did next is observed against a background of crises that saw the destruction of Odin’s Asgard, imprisonment, death and resurrection of Thor and other heroes (don’t panic: in comics nobody dies forever) and the rise of opportunistic mystic forces seeking to capitalise on the upheaval.

Just how self-interest and self-revulsion in equal measure drive the magical lad in a vastly changed multiverse is the meat of this missive: encompassing teen Loki’s diligent struggles against his own nature as he tries to be better, tries to be different and tries to avoid making all his old mistakes again. It would have been far easier if he wasn’t taking advice from his old adult self (manifested as bird of ill omen Ikol) or increasingly infatuated with Leah, an age-appropriate and distracting potential paramour who is also a handmaiden of death goddess Hela ordered to keep him on mission and report any problems to truly unrepentant villains…

Loki’s rite of passage sees him face the consequences of The Serpent’s fall, and scam dream demon Nightmare and a coterie of rival fear-lords whilst manipulating Asgard’s death goddess Hela and her nemesis – multiversal arch-devil Mephisto. He then – as a secret agent for Asgard-on-Earth/Asgardia and its devious ruling triumvirate The All-Mother – must mediate between predatory new pantheon The Manchester Gods and the realm of Otherworld to redefine the spiritual identity of Britain: allowing the concepts of Faerie, Avalon, Albion, Celtic gods, Industrial Revolution, Capitalism, Marxism, Pop and Punk to co-exist. It does not go according to plan and in the final reckoning everything burns when the well-meaning kid unleashes and refuels ultimate universal ravager Surtur

Loki’s enigmatic voyages span the Nine Realms, a range of Hells, the Dream Dimension, Camelot and even wilder places with MU guest-stars including Daimon Hellstrom, (The Son of Satan), Captain Britain, and all Asgardian favourites but I fear that this might be one of those rare occasions where fullest understanding and enjoyment might require a brief refresher course via the original comics. At least everything you need is readily available in collected editions and it will definitely enhance your enjoyment of this skilful and evocative peek inside the head of a Lordly boy who wants to be good and not misunderstood…
© 2023 MARVEL.

Loki: Journey into Mystery will be released on December 19th 2023 and is available for pre-order now.

Ultraman: The Official Novel of the Series


By Pat Cadigan (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-80336-245-8 (prose PB) eISBN: 978-1-80336-301-1

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Endless Rebirth and Renewal… 8/10

In Asia the Ultraman phenomenon was akin to the boom created by Superman in 1939. Devised by Eiji Tsuburaya, it began in 1966 with Ultra Q – a series of television adventures featuring humans fighting a different monster every week. Before the first season completed it was joined by follow-up TV show Ultraman which added a superheroic component. It began when a human pilot merged with a benevolent alien to battle a nonstop wave of kaiju and alien invasions. The idea was so successful and audience reaction so strong it birthed a whole new genre – Kyodai (giant) Hero – and rapidly expanded into all media arenas to become a multi-billion-dollar franchise.

By the 1980s Ultraman was the world’s third top-selling licensed character and a cultural touchstone for Japan and all points east. The character is ubiquitously popular in more than 100 countries. Constantly reinvented by Tsuburaya and his heirs ever since 1966, Ultraman was followed by 31 more TV series and spin-off heroes, plus 44 movies, 33 specials and as many miniseries. The number and variety of characters under the Ultra umbrella are truly mindboggling…

Eventually, ownership issues created a schism with a whole separate mythology/iconography growing up around a breakaway company faction of projects (more than 38 different ones) made in Thailand under the banner of Chaiyo Productions.

Oddly, despite a couple of mountains worth of merchandise and licensed product, Ultraman didn’t get into manga until 2011, but has sold millions of copies since then.

There has been a constant and sustained effort to crack western markets on the same scale. There’s aYouTube channel, and currently Netflix has an animated series whilst Marvel licensed the core concept for comic books.

Here we’re looking at a new prose interpretation – in English – of classic 1960s show material adapted and diligently updated by multi-award winning science fiction author Pat Cadigan (Mindplayers, The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi, Alita: Battle Angel). She has also written forthcoming companion title Ultraman: UltraSeven.

It all begins in deep space as a Being of Light pursues uncontrolled malign entity Bemular. The chase ends on a primitive world teeming with usable, harvestable energy and results in the benevolent creature merging with a native to save its life…

Agent Shin Hayata of the Science Special Search Party – AKA the Science Patrol – couldn’t believe his first encounter with a UFO but had no choice but to accept when he fatally crashed into a second one and was resurrected by it at the cost of the visitor’s own existence. As well as getting his life back, Shin also gained the power to turn into a colossal star warrior – albeit only for brief minutes at a time – which coincided with Earth (and usually Japan) becoming a most desirable location for monsters, extraterrestrial invaders and a host of other unlikely perils…

A decent do-gooder now plagued with all the usual superhero secret identity troubles, Shin works with his close-knit team of fellow Science Patrol operatives as the world endures first a mosrously mutated Bemular and in close order thereafter, invasion by illusion-casting Baltans, a trip to Tatara/Monster Island ruled by the ruthless Red King, primordial threat Gomorasaurus (which includes a boy sidekick in waiting) miracle-making alien Mefilas who was looking for a human who would sign over ownership of Earth and the far more prosaic but murderous Zetton

Ultimately, however, the biggest threat of all is when another Ultra Being manifests with a solution to all Shin’s problems…

The many worlds and dimensions of Ultraman are exotic, beguiling, infinitely fascinating and constantly renewing. Whether you fancy a quick dip into decades of mystery or intend to make the fantasy a lifetime project, you can’t do better than to start right here…
© 2023 Tsuburaya Productions. All Rights Reserved.

Ultraman: The Official Novelization will be released on December 12th 2023 and is available for pre-order now.

Captain Marvel: Shadow Code


By Gilly Segal (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-80336-180-2 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-80336-181-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Compulsive Marvel Madness …8/10

After a few half-hearted and ultimately abortive attempts in the 1960s followed by a more strategic but no more enduring attempt at the close of the 1970’s, Marvel finally secured a regular presence on prose bookshelves in the 1990s with a series of hardback novels. Since then, fans who want to supply their own pictures to gripping MU exploits have enjoyed a successive string of text thrills in all formats.

British publisher Titan Books has been supplying many such powerhouse prose publications and here caters to the interests of fans brought in by movies like Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame and The Marvels and lifelong devotees of the ever-enlarging continuity in a gripping yarn set firmly in comic book continuity.

When half-Kree/half human superhero Carol Danvers is asked by token hero guy Tony Stark (in both annoying genius mode and as Iron Man) to investigate a family problem besetting third-generation coding prodigy Mara Melamed, she uncovers a cyber threat to the entire world apparently gamed out by leading braintrust DigiTech and a viper’s nest of family betrayals.

As corporate skulduggery escalates to hostile surveillance, disinformation, blackmail, murder, and indiscriminate attacks by top-secret ordnance, Danvers calls in a team of trusty female super-friends (Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, Jenn Takeda/Hazmat, Monica Rambeau/Spectrum) and after much dangerous investigation learns an old enemy is behind everything… or is she?

Written by Gilly Segal (I’m Not Dying With You Tonight, Why We Fly) this Titanic tome offers strong, accurate characterisation, fast-paced, non-stop super-powered conflict, perplexing mystery, ever-ratchetting tension and even a few laughs to make Shadow Code an ideal diversion between all those comics and live action adventures…
© 2023 Marvel.

Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe: A Trilogy of Crime


Adapted by Tom DeHaven & Rian Hughes; Jerome Charyn & David Lloyd; James Rose, Lee Moyer & Alfredo Alcala, & various (iBooks)
ISBN: 978-0-7434-7489-4 (HB), 978-1-59687-839-6 (TPB 2016 edition)

If you’re going to adapt classic, evocative crime stories into graphic narrative there really isn’t no better source material than Chandler. This follow-up to the adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe: The Little Sister was last reissued in 2016 as Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe: The Graphic Novel: once again the fruit of comics visionary Byron Preiss.

It adroitly adapts three short tales from the master of hard-boiled fiction. Significantly, they are all rendered in a variety of unique and impressive styles by an international array of top-flight creators…

Opening the show is ‘Goldfish’, first published in 1949 and the writer’s ninth short story sale. It preceded his first Marlowe novel by three years and is here adapted by Tom DeHaven (Green Candles, It’s Superman!) & lettered by Willie Schubert. The stylish illustration comes courtesy of British designer/artist Rian Hughes (Dare, I Am a Number) using muted colour tones that have only the merest hint of hue to them. The effect is powerfully evocative and atmospheric.

When former cop Kathy Horne sidles into the tough guy’s seedy office, she brings a tale of lost pearls, an absconded convict and a huge reward just waiting to be claimed. Dragged far out of his comfort zone and sent up and down the Pacific Seaboard, our world-weary shamus is just steps ahead of sadistic, casually murderous Carol Donovan and her gang of thugs in a superb thriller of double-cross and double-jeopardy…

Next up is ‘The Pencil’, scripted by award-winning mystery novelist Jerome Charyn (Isaac Sidel series, The Magician’s Wife, New York Cannibals), brilliantly rendered by British comics legend David Lloyd (V for Vendetta, Hellblazer, Wasteland, Aces Weekly) in moody, dry-brush black and white, and lettered by long-term collaborator Elitta Fell. This was Chandler’s 21st – and final – Marlowe adventure, published posthumously in 1959, shortly after the author’s death. You might know it as Marlowe Takes on the Syndicate, Wrong Pigeon or even Philip Marlowe’s Last Case.

Hollywood 1955: Ikky Rossen is a bad man, a career gangster and mob leg-breaker. When he crosses his bosses he hopes Marlowe can get him safely out of the City of Angels before The Organization’s East Coast “button men” send him to Hell. Marlowe knows these are people to be avoided at all costs and only one thing is always true: everybody lies…

Closing the casebook – and somewhat ill-considered and misplaced to my mind – is ‘Trouble is My Business’ as interpreted by James Rose (Thundercats, Savage sword of Conan), Lee Moyer (Starstruck, Dungeons & Dragons) & Alfredo Alcala (Voltar, Swamp Thing, Man Thing, Batman, Savage Sword of Conan), with Schubert again filling the word balloons.

This is a weak tale of vengeful Harriet Huntress who intends to destroy two generations of wealthy socialites mixed up in the gambling rackets originated in 1939: a rather tame and straightforward yarn in comparison to the other stories here, not to mention the landmark first full novel The Big Sleep, which was also published in that year.

Moyer and Alcala do a solid job of illustrating the plot (although it’s a little pretty for my tastes) but the cynical edge that is the hallmark of Chandler’s iconic creation is muted if not actually extinguished here.

Despite ending on a sour note, this is still a superb sample of Detective comics any fan can revel in, with the incredible Steranko cover alone well worth the effort of tracking down…
Adaptations and illustrations © 2003 Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. Original stories “Goldfish” and “Trouble is my Business” © 2003 Philip Marlowe BV (Estate of Raymond Chandler) All Rights Reserved. “The Pencil” © 1971 Helga Greene, Executrix, Estate of Raymond Chandler. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: The Little Sister


Adapted by Michael Lark (A Byron Preiss Book/Fireside Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59687-535-7 (TPB)

If you’re going to adapt classic, evocative crime novels into graphic narrative you really can’t start from better source material than Raymond Chandler. His fifth novel, The Little Sister, was published in 1949, after nearly a decade of hard living and work as a Hollywood screenwriter, and it is a perfect example of his terse yet poetic hard-boiled style.

All the beloved and iconic imagery is present in Michael (Gotham Central, Legend of Hawkman, Terminal City) Lark’s static snapshot style as prim Orfamay Quest hires the laconic Marlowe to track down her missing brother, a spiritual soul who seems to have gone off the rails since hitting the sin city of Los Angeles.

Little Orfamay seems wound up pretty tight for such a run-of the-mill case, but the world-weary detective soon starts to take things a little more seriously after the bodies begin to drop and corpses start showing up in the strangest places…

This taut and twisted compote of mobsters, blackmail and double-dealing is an ideal example of a tale adapted well: underplayed art and direction augmented by controlled pace and a sensitive use of a deliberately limited colour palette.

A cool look at a period classic, this is a crime-fan’s dream book, and what’s truly criminal is that it’s been allowed to remain out-of-print.
© 1997 Byron Preiss Visual Publications Inc. Text of The Little Sister © 1949 Raymond Chandler, © renewed 1976 Mrs Helga Greene. All Rights Reserved.

The Wild Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Volume Two


By Will Murray, illustrated by Gary Carbon, Joe DeVito, Jason C. Eckhardt (Odyssey Publications)
ISBN: 979-8-379327-44-6 (PB/Digital edition)

I’m always saying it, in fact we all are: Something Strange is Going On. Let’s address that situation with a week of detective-themed reviews…

Way back in the days when even the shabbiest waif or emphysema-riddled ragamuffin could read, story periodicals for young and old ruled. Countless stories recounted the exploits of adventurers, do-gooders and especially detectives. None ever matched the cachet and pulling power of Sherlock Holmes. Even today the meta-real household name continues and thrives, both in countless reworkings and adaptations of canonical classics and in new material by and for devoted and dedicated admirers ever-hungry for more…

Holmes wasn’t the first but he is most assuredly the most popular and well known. His success spawned a storm of imitators and tribute acts – some even going on to immortality of their own. In1893, just as The Strand Magazine published the “last Sherlock Holmes story” (The Adventure of the Final Problem – and it nearly was as Conan Doyle held out against incredible pressure from fans, editors and bankers until 1901 when The Hound of the Baskervilles began serialisation) another profoundly British criminologist was beginning his own spectacular multimedia career: Sexton Blake

As described by physician Arthur Conan Doyle via the narratives of companion and stalwart factotum Dr. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes’ fictional exploits (54 short stories and 4 novels beginning in 1887) popularised and formulated detective fiction: mythologising the processes of observation, deduction, logical reasoning and forensic science. Britain became a nation of crime fans and Holmes went on to repeat the process for most of the planet…

The first exploit was A Study in Scarlet, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual 1887, with the majority of stories thereafter in The Strand Magazine. Inevitably, the character soon escaped the page to appear in countless, stories, plays, films, television shows, adverts and anything else canny entrepreneurs could think of.

Although graphic adaptations are plentiful, original English language comics have not excelled with regard to the Great Detective: a trio of newspapers strips, brief comic book runs by Charlton (1955) and DC Comics (1975) and some few later miniseries by independent publishers such as Caliber and Moonstone. Holmes is, however, an evergreen guest collaborator: popping up to aid everyone from Batman to The Muppets to The Shadow himself.

If you can find them, Scarlet in Gaslight: An Adventure in Terror and A Case of Blind Fear by Martin Powell & Seppo Makinen would provide resolute pictorialist devotees with a rare and worthwhile treat: showing the Master Ratiocinator testing himself against other literary touchstones of the period – specifically Bram Stoker’s Lord of the Undead in alliance with the truly evil Professor Moriarty and then H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man

He has also faced such contemporary challengers as The Phantom of the Opera and Mr Hyde in the company of Henry Jekyll, Toulouse L’Autrec and Oscar Wilde

Writers and fans alike share an oddly perverse but clearly overwhelming desire to “mix and match” favourite literary figures: especially from the Victorian Era, that birthplace of so many facets of popular culture. Holmes is so much a household name that his inclusion in any venture is a virtual guarantee of commercial success, but regrettably often no guarantee of quality. Of course, no one can get too much of a good thing and happily Holmes and Watson have thrived under the aegis of many creative stars ever since Doyle’s death. Writers adding to the oeuvre include Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Anthony Burgess, A.A. Milne, P.G. Wodehouse, John Dickson Carr, Anthony Horowitz and so many more, and today I’m sharing the efforts of another with a well-earned reputation in the field….

Will Murray is something of a classic fiction force of nature. Journalist, editor and author, he produces scholarly histories and critiques on cult characters in the Will Murray Pulp History Series (as seen in today’s other posting) and celebrates the pulp experience in general and especially fading genres via new prose stories for the canon of so many landmark literary characters and concepts. Through print, audio and eBooks, Murray has extended the legends and shelf life of The Shadow, Doc Savage (and Pat Savage), The Spider, King Kong, The Green Lama, The Bat, The Avenger, The Destroyer (Remo Williams), Tarzan and The C’thulu mythos, He is especially adept at crafting combinations: teaming individual stars and concepts in team -up tales such as King Kong vs Tarzan

You’ll probably want to see – or may already enjoy – Murray’s comics too: gems like prose novel Nick Fury, Agent of S.H. I.E.L.D.: Empyre, and visual delights like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (co-created with Steve Ditko), Spider-Man, Hulk, Secret Six, The Destroyer, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Spider, The Gray Seal, Ant-Man, Green Hornet, Zorro, The Phantom and more…

These stories were originally published in magazines and books from MX Publishing, Thrilling Adventure Yarns and Belanger Books, and are set in various periods of the consulting Detective’s long and prestigious career. This tome is the second and latest of two volumes and I’m happy to confide that I enjoyed it so much when my comp copy arrived that I actually paid with my own money to get the first one too…

Following an effusive and informative ‘Introduction’ discussing how this collection concentrates on stories challenging Holmes’ rational mindset and non-rationalistic encounters, the casebook reopens with ‘The Singular Problem of the Extinguished Wicks’ as the investigator reveals his fascination with Spontaneous Human Combustion and its effect on a particularly gruesome demise, after which ‘The Mystery of the Spectral Shelter’ sees Holmes approached by a Hansom cab driver who has had a decidedly close call with a vanishing café used by his professional compatriots…

The irascible ratiocinator’s perennial problem with mind-numbing boredom is highlighted in ‘The Problem of the Surrey Samson’ and assuaged by a theatrical turn whose seemingly miraculous strength does not endure Holmes’ close scrutiny, whilst ‘The Uncanny Adventure of the Hammersmith Wonder’ exposes a body in incredible circumstance and – once properly pondered – sees the detective solve a long-hidden generational crime…

Weird – but still plausible – science and a truly grotesque murder inform ‘The Repulsive Matter of the Bloodless Banker’ before Murray adds his own choice pick to that army of previously established associates.

A ghost story – or is it? – bringing mysteries of ancient Egypt to Edwardian England, ‘The Adventure of the Abominable Adder’ is set in 1903 and introduces the champion of rational thought to his equally estimable but operationally opposite number. This tale sees Algernon Blackwood’s spiritual detective John Silence – Physician Extraordinary also consulted by a terrified client with both valiant advocates needed to solve the mystery.

Silence was among the best of a wave of “ghost-breaker” heroes from that death-obsessed era, appearing in six stories by the prolific Blackwood (1869-1951), beginning with ‘A Psychical Invasion’ (1908).

A genteel and refined war of world-views having been declared, Mind and Soul met again in ‘The Adventure of the Sorrowing Mudlark’ as Dr. Silence asks the esteemed logician to assist a dead woman trapped in an eternal search, before a mythological mystery manifests when a green-hued lad long ago abducted by fairies abruptly returns to a rustic village in ‘The Adventure of the Emerald Urchin’, with Silence again offering unique insights…

With Holmes assuming the narrator’s role, 1908-set conundrum ‘The Adventure of the Expelled Master’ details how he deduced the manner in which a maths teacher was actually murdered despite his body being observed flying up a chimney and rocketing across the heavens, before this embassage into eerie esoterica concludes with Watson’s already crucial role in the stories expanded. It’s 1915 and whilst involved in the war effort the military doctor seeks to drag his old comrade out of retirement to verify the provenance of an unearthed hoard seemingly minted in fabled Atlantis in ‘The Conundrum of the Questionable Coins’

Wrapping up the investigations are fulsome biographical dossiers on Murray in ‘About the Author’ and artist Gary Carbon in ‘About the Artist’.

Compelling, rewarding and just plain fun to read, these tales are a delight and a must for any Holmesian follower.
© 2023 by Will Murray. All rights reserved. Front cover image & frontispiece © 2023 by Gary Carbon. All rights reserved. Back cover image © 2023 by Joe DeVito. All rights reserved.

Paul Robeson for Beginners


By Paul Von Blum, illustrated by Elizabeth Von Notias & Ramsess (For Beginners)
ISBN: 978-1-934389-81-2 (PB/Digital edition)

For Beginners books are heavily-illustrated text primers: accessible graphic non-fiction foundation courses in a vast variety of subjects ranging from art to philosophy, politics to history and much more, all tackled in an accessible yet readily respectful manner. This particular volume was written by Paul Von Blum, author and Senior Lecturer in African American Studies and Communication Studies at UCLA, wedded to a wealth of strips and illustrations by graphic design specialist Elizabeth Von Notias and self-taught multi-media creator Ramsess.

If remembered at all, Paul Leroy Robeson ((9th April 1898-23rd January 1976) is regarded by most people as that African American performer with an incredibly deep voice. Maybe some will recall that he was a left wing political activist who particularly incensed Senator Joe McCarthy during America’s infamous “Red-baiting” witch-hunting period… so, kudos for that, too…

That’s all true enough, but he was also one of the most accomplished and gifted individuals in the nation’s history: a true Renaissance man who was cheated of his ultimate potential simply because his skin was the wrong colour…

An Introduction lists Robeson’s astonishing accomplishments – all the more amazing when you realise the lack of opportunities if not outright repression facing negroes in segregated America at the time of his birth and not truly tackled until the Civil Rights movement began gaining traction in the late 1950s. If even then…

As told in more telling detail – via word and pictures in ‘The Early Days’, ‘Paul Robeson the Athlete’, ‘Paul Robeson the Stage Actor’, ‘Paul Robeson the Screen Actor’ and ‘Paul Robeson the Singer’ – he was the son of a preacher and born in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the last of five children, locked into a time and place rigidly defined by class and race divisions…

A brilliant student, Paul Robeson graduated Somerville High School in 1915 and won a 4-year scholarship to Rutgers University, where – despite initial hostility and actual physical assaults – he became the star of the Football, Baseball, Basketball and Athletics squads. He was twice designated “All-American”.

Graduating from Rutgers, he attended New York University Law School before transferring to Columbia University Law School. Talented and seemingly tireless, Robeson turned an interest in the dramatic arts into a part-time stage career and became a professional Football player in 1920.

He married, acted, sang, played Pro ball and kept on studying: graduating Columbia in 1923 to work as a lawyer at a prestigious firm… until the bigotry he experienced from his own subordinates became too much.

In 1924, during the enthralling localised period of negro liberality and cultural growth dubbed “The Harlem Renaissance” (1923-1927), he switched from stage acting to movies, but still carried on a glittering international career: starring as Othello in London and playing in many hit plays and musicals including Showboat, Emperor Jones, Stevedore and All God’s Chillun’s Got Wings

Incessantly, helplessly politically active, he visited the Soviet Union in 1934, spoke out against Fascism during the Spanish Civil War, co-founded the anti-colonial Council on African Affairs and used his name and fame to agitate for social and legal changes in such contentious areas as Southern lynch law and trade union legislation. These activities made him a prime target in the USA and in 1941 J. Edgar Hoover ordered the FBI to open a file on him…

In 1950, the US government took away his passport because he refused to recant his pro-Soviet, pro-socialist stance, making Robeson an exile in his own country. He was unable to leave America for 8 years, until a Supreme Court ruling decreed the State Department had no right to revoke passports due to an individual’s political beliefs.

Somehow, I’m reminded of how successive British Home Secretaries have smugly wallowed in the shameful, self-granted ability to revoke and deny the nationality and movements of its own citizens: especially the young, brown, non-Christian, groomed and trafficked one…

Robeson’s life was filled with such astounding breakthroughs and landmarks. Once free to travel again, he became an international political celebrity and social commentator, using his concerts and stage appearances in places as disparate as Wales, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, East Germany, Canada, and elsewhere to promote a dream of World “Freedom, Peace and Brotherhood”…

His beliefs, struggles achievements and failures are scrutinised in ‘Paul Robeson the International Activist’, ‘Paul Robeson the Domestic Political Activist’ before a thorough appreciation in ‘The Final Years and His Lasting Legacy’

Augmented by a ‘Bibliography’, ‘Selected Chronology’ and creator biographies, this absorbing documentary proves again the astounding power of visual narrative when wedded to the life story of a truly unique individual, and begs the question: where are his graphic biography and definitive biopic?
© 2013 Paul Von Blum. Illustrations © 2013 Elizabeth Von Notias & Ramsess. All rights reserved. A For Beginners Documentary Comic Book © 2013.

Sock Monkey: Into the Deep Woods


By Tony Millionaire & Matt Danner (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-60699-746-8 (HB)

Tony Millionaire’s Sock Monkey first appeared as a Dark Horse comic book in 1998. The extraordinary cast of characters have since achieved bizarre notoriety as adored favourites of gentle lovers of whimsy and the degenerate darlings of clued-in, cynical post-moderns.

The original tales featured a lovable handmade simian puppet, a toy crow with button eyes and a much-repaired doll experiencing multiple-award-winning all-ages adventures published as occasional miniseries between 1998 and 2007. Between 2002 and 2004, they starred in a couple of hardcover storybooks and were later recycled and repurposed for an adult-oriented (by which I mean surreal and clever, not tawdry and titillating) newspaper strip…

Tony Millionaire comes from a dynasty of exemplary artists, loves to draw and does it very, very well: referencing classical art, the acme of children’s book illustration and an eclectic mix of pioneering comic strip draughtsmen like George McManus, Rudolph Dirks, Cliff Sterrett, Frank Willard, Harold Gray, Elzie Segar and George Herriman.

His own creative endeavours – words and pictures – seamlessly blend their styles and sensibilities with European engravings masters from the “legitimate” side of the pictorial storytelling racket.

Born Scott Richardson, Mr Millionaire especially cites Johnny (Raggedy Ann and Andy) Gruelle and English illustrator Ernest H. Shepard (The Wind in the Willows; Winnie the Pooh) as definitive formative influences. That’s particularly obvious from the range of stunning pictures in this rousing yarn starring his plushy paragons in a memorable collaboration with animator, screen writer and director Matt Danner (Ren & Stimpy, Loony Toons, Monster High and The Drinky Crow Show).

With a variety of graphical strings to his bow such as various animation shows, his own clutch of books for children – particularly the superbly stirring Billy Hazelnuts series – and the brilliant if disturbing weekly strip Maakies (detailing riotously vulgar, absurdly surreal adventures of a nautically-inclined Irish monkey called Uncle Gabby and fellow über-alcoholic Drinky Crow: grown-up world iterations and mirror universe equivalents of the sweet and simple stars herein), every Millionaire project seems to be a guarantee of endless excitement and quality.

This one pushes the featured creatures into the rarefied atmosphere inhabited by such esteemed and established children’s favourites as the Moomins, Wonderland, The Velveteen Rabbit and the assorted chronicles of Oz…

A prose tale scripted primarily by Danner with ideas, contributions and 46 stunning monochrome illustrations (in a variety of media from soft pencil tones to crisp stark pen & ink) from Millionaire: the sublime saga details how, one day in a Victorian House by the sea, an old Sock Monkey named Gabby and his constant companions Crow and dilapidated, much-repaired doll Inches discover their beloved guardian Ann-Louise is missing – presumed taken by the recently discovered monstrous beast dubbed the Amarok…

Determined to save her, the ill-prepared trio plunge into the terrifying Deep Woods, armed only with maps and a compass from the library of Ann-Louise’s grandfather Professor Rimperton. Braving all manner of terrors – and with the occasional assistance of strange creatures such as wood-elf Trumbernick, a partly digested sea captain and an undersized bear carpenter – the toybox heroes defeat, or more usually narrowly escape, such threats as Venomous, Triple-Spiked, Hog-Faced Caterpillars, stormy seas, a Sea Serpent, horrid Harpies and the unpleasantly ursine Eastern Mountain Guards of Bear Town, until they find her.

However even after the dauntless searchers have finished dodging pursuers, roaming the wilds and soaring the skies to be reunited with Ann-Louise, there is one final trial after the remorseless Amarok tracks them to the beloved little girl they would lay down their lives for…

Like the very best children’s classics, this is a book (available in proudly traditional hardback and ultra-modern digital formats) that isn’t afraid to confront dark matters and actively embraces fear and sadness amidst the wonders in an effort to craft a better story.

Compelling, beguiling and visually intoxicating, this Sock Monkey yarn judiciously leavens discovery with anxiety, heartbreak with gleeful imaginative innocence and terror with bold triumph.

Millionaire describes his works as intended for “adults who love children’s stories” but this collaboration may just have turned that around by concocting a tall tale of adult intent which is one of the greatest kids’ books of modern times.
Sock Monkey: Into the Deep Woods © 2014 Tony Millionaire & Matt Danner. This edition © 2014 Fantagraphics Books.

Freddy and the New Kid (The Awesome Robot Chronicles volume 2)


By Neill Cameron (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-164-2 (PB)

Neill Cameron (Bulldog Empire; Judge Dredd Megazine; Henry V; The DFC) knows how to charm and enthral kids of all ages, particularly with his work in the picture-perfect pages of wonderful weekly The Phoenix: strips like Tamsin of the Deep; How to Make Awesome Comics and Pirates of Pangea.

To my mind, the best of the proud bunch is Mega-Robo Brothers, set in a futuristic London (at least 3 months from now, but with flying buses…) with a pair of marvellous metal-&-plastic paladins who are not like other schoolkids – no matter how much they try…

Cameron became a stalwart of proper literature after migrating the younger of his artificial wonders to the prose pages of proper books in the grand manner of Just William or Billy Bunter – albeit heavily illustrated, cartoon stuffed ones – with Freddy Vs. School. Here he cracks on with a splendid sequel…

Welcome to the Future!

In a London much cooler than ours Alex Sharma and younger brother Freddy are (mostly) typical kids: boisterous, fractious, argumentative but devoted to each other… and not too bothered that they’re adopted. It’s no big deal for them that they were originally built by mysterious Dr. Roboticus before he vanished, or that they are considered by those in the know as the most powerful robots on Earth.

That includes Mum and Dad. Mr Sharma may be just your average working guy, but Mum is actually a bit extraordinary herself. A renowned boffin, Dr. Nita Sharma carries some surprising secrets of her own, and occasionally allows her boys to be super-secret agents for R.A.I.D. (Robotics Analysis Intelligence and Defence).

It’s enough for the digital duo that they’re loved, even though they are more of a handful than most kids. They try to live as normal a life as possible; going to school, making friends, putting up with bullies and hating homework: it’s all part of Mega Robo Routine to blend boring lessons, fun with friends, games-playing, TV-watching and training in covert combat caverns under R.A.I.D. HQ…

When occasion demands, the lads undertake missions, but mostly it’s just home, games, homework and School. At least that’s how it seems to Freddy: a typical 10-year-old (well, except for the built-in super-powers).

Alex is at the age when self-doubt and anxiety take hold and counters the anxiety by trying to fit in, but Freddy is still insufferably exuberant and over-confident. It leads to frequent confrontations with unreasonable, unliked Deputy Head Mr. Javid and resulted in a specific set of school rules that apply only to the robot boy: a draconian Code of Conduct forbidding any students from using super-strength, booster rockets or lasers on school property…

Even when Freddy sticks to the rules, trouble just seems to go looking for him. He’s wilful and easily led, especially by best friend Fernando who also hates boring learning and loves excitement. Dr. Sharma calls him an “instigator”, but believes the influence of sporty Anisha, quiet swot Riyad and even (mostly) reformed bully Henrik can modify Freddy’s inability to do what he’s told…

Sadly, that was before ultra-competitive new girl Aoife arrived. She’s good at all subjects, a superstar on the sports field and quite likable, but for some reason hates and despises robots. All too soon, she and Freddy are arch enemies, engaged in a duel to prove whether humans or machines are best. The contest divides the school, separates Freddy from his friends and leads to a destructive plague of betting in the school…

Cash-strapped and cost obsessed, Mr Javid exacerbates the situation by systematically laying off human teachers and replacing them with low grade robots. It starts in the sports department but gradually the cheap mechanoids encroach on actual lessons, and all too soon Aoife has taught the students how to modify and reprogram them…

As the rivals strive to prove their point of view, chaos descends on the school. Lessons are affected; relationships shift; the remaining staff revolt and the robot replacements go berserk. Soon it’s time for lasers and rockets and maybe even some necessary explosions…

Somehow amidst all the madness, Freddy and Aoife start to see each other’s point of view, tone down their aggression and even properly get on. Now all they have to do is calm down the rioting kids, turn off the rebellious techno-teaching assistants, safely dismantle the gambling cabal and get their former friends to talk to them again…

Stuffed with monochrome cartoons and bouncy graphics, this is unmissable entertainment for all ages and vintages: a splendidly traditional potent school days comedy romp, amped up on sci fi and superhero riffs and carrying a powerful message that competition has a downside. Freddy and the New Kid is another amazing adventure for younger readers that you’ll adore too.
Text and illustrations © Neill Cameron 2021. All rights reserved.

First Names: Nelson (MANDELA)


By Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl & Nicole Miles (David Fickling Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78845-097-3 (PB)

Since its premiere in 2012, The Phoenix has offered humour, adventure, quizzes, puzzles and educational material in a traditional-seeming weekly comics anthology for girls and boys. The vibrant parade of cartoon fun, fact and fantasy has won praise from the Great and the Good, child literacy experts and the only people who really count – a dedicated legion of totally engaged kids and parents who read it avidly…

David Fickling Books provides other types of reading matter: novels, graphic novels and a newish imprint of cartoon and strip illustrated biographies highlighting historical and contemporary groundbreakers and earthshakers.

First Names introduces young readers to noteworthy achievers rightly deemed role models and adds now to its roster an absolute legend: the man who defied modern society’s greatest tyranny, defeated an entrenched oppression and changed the lives and minds of millions if not billions of people.

Devised along the lines of the mega-successful, eternally-engaging Horrible Histories books, these prose paperbacks come with a superabundance of monochrome cartoon illustrations to keep the pace of learning fast and fact-packed, and are generally bright, breezy, easily-accessible hagiographies with the emphasis on graphics. That doesn’t mean that they pull any punches when the facts warrant, though…

Written by Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl, First Names: Nelson (MANDELA) details the astounding life and ultimate triumph of the rational, gentle-minded freedom fighter who endured decades of personal hardship while shepherding his nation through an all-but-bloodless revolution to a tolerant liberation.

The amazing story begins with Introduction ‘Nelson Arrives At The Great Place’, describing how the 12-year old lad arrives at the royal residence of the acting king of the Thembu people. It is 1930 in the Transkei region of South Africa…

The full story begins then with the antecedents and early childhood of small boy Rolihlahla as winningly described in chapter 1: ‘Nelson is Named’ before encompassing school, family joy and heartbreak and relating how a carefree cattle boy with few clan connections grows into a scholar of promise in ‘Nelson Gets Some Boots’ and rejects tribal plans to seek personal independence as ‘Nelson Heads For The City’…

Studies, setbacks, marriage and political transformation are deftly covered as 4’Nelson Joins The Fight’ and 5’Nelson Stirs Things Up’, whereafter the forthright but breezy tone takes a darker turn as the struggle against South Africa’s white minority rulers starts to bite.

Chapter 6 reveals ‘Nelson Goes On Trial’ and covers life on the run in ‘Nelson Undercover’ before the more public stages of this remarkable life are covered in ‘Nelson Makes His Plea’ and the concluding Chapter 9: ‘Nelson Casts His First Vote’, after which an ‘Epilogue’ deals with the later years of rule, reconciliation and retirement.

This is a subject with plenty of controversial and complex issues for kids to unpack, but the author has illustrator Nicole Miles putting faces to the names and places in smart cartoon collations such as ‘Didn’t you ever lose faith?’, ‘The Awful Passbook Laws’ ‘South Africa’s Horrible Racial Divide’ and brilliantly deals with potentially contentious issues by clever visual essays such as ‘Nelson Explains: Apartheid’ and ‘Nelson Explains: Life on Robben Island’.

There’s also plenty of visual sidebars detailing the basics with background detail like ‘My Tribe and Ancestry’, ‘How South Africa was Conquered’, ‘Circumcision’, and ‘Arranged Marriages’.

Ending the fun is a cool and crucial ‘Pronunciation Guide’ as well as a detailed Timeline (1918-2013), full Glossary and Index appendices for those eager to check out the facts and educate themselves even further…

Working in tandem with delicate sensitivity, the creators have constructed a superb introduction into the most remarkable man of modern times: a book any kid would be proud to share with interested adults.
First Names: Nelson (MANDELA) Text © Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl 2021. Illustrations © Nicole Miles 2021. All rights reserved.