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By various (America’s Best Comics)
ISBN 1-84576-148-0
Alan Moore relinquishes his writer’s role to a selection of top creators for an intriguing medley of tales from his own private universe with this collection.
First is the staggeringly whimsical ‘The Day Tom Strong Renegotiated the Friendly Skies’ by Mark Schultz and Pascal Ferry, wherein The Man of Science has to correct the supposedly immutable Laws of Physics governing aerodynamics as, apparently, manned flight is only possible because of a deal brokered by Strong’s own father at the turn of the century, and the sky-gods have decided not to renew the contract…
‘Jenny Panic & the Bible of Dreams’ from Steve Aylett and Shawn McManus tells of a young girl whose nightmares create and warp Realities, and Brian K. Vaughan and Peter Snejbjerg craft a fascinating spin on devotion by exploring the history of Strong’s life-long robotic companion, Pneuman in ‘A Fire in his Belly’.
The two-part ‘The Terrible True Life of Tom Strong’ from Ed Brubaker and Duncan Fegredo’ finishes the book, a pretty if uninspired old plot-boiler revisited as Strong wakes on our world and his adventurous existence is revealed as nothing but a glamorous delusion in a damaged mind. Despite its grateful nods in equal part to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and Moore’s own true origin of Marvelman/Miracleman, its readable but self-indulgent questioning of its own reality and internal integrity detracts from what might have been a sharp spin on a favourite plot.
All in all this collection (reprinting issues #26-30) is a fun read, and a worthy companion to previous volumes scribed by someone who seems incapable of writing a bad comic, and obviously well able to share his toys.
© 2005 America’s Best Comics, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey Win,
I was placing an order for Amazon.com and I felt I needed some self-assurance before buying the “Batman:Strange Apparitions” TPB so I happened to get to your place , your review of it was useful (I have just placed the order) 😉
Shame on me I have not the patience to write the reviews of the comics I read..
I’ll add you to my favourites
Cheers!
Pd: Don’t you love Pasqual Ferry? Apart from the fact that I am from Spain, too
Hi Bruce,
Thank you. I’m flattered by your vote of confidence.
It’s gratifying to know that the decision to review books other than this week’s latest releases is helping to increase the spread of our artform’s best works.
I love Pasqual Ferry’s work too. Have you checked out some of the British strips I’ve previously reviewed? many of Britain’s finest strips were produced by Spanish artists.
Hi again
I’m checking out right now…
I am afraid I don’t know many british comics apart from the obvious (Moore, Gaiman,…) and the old ones like Dan Dare, Judge Dredd,…
Hi Bruce,
There’s not nearly enough British material reprinted, but you might want to seek out Charleys War, The Steel Claw, The Spider -King of Crooks, and the James Bond and Modesty Blaise collections.
I’ve reviewed many of them already so check out the archive section (shameless plug) and they should all still be available from Amazon or some of the better comic shops such as Gosh!
I’ll be reviewing Albion Origins (featuring Kelly’s Eye, House of Dollman, Janus Stark and Cursitor Doom) next week which features art from Ramon Solano Lopez and Eric Bradbury, who ought to be household names in our field yet somehow aren’t.
Sorry to blather on, so I’ll just end by saying if I have piqued your interest you might want to look at Steve Holland’s comic website Bear Alley.
Win