Month: April 2009

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Showcase Presents the Flash vol. 2


By John Broome, Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, Joe Giella & Murphy Anderson (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1805-8

The second Flash triggered the Silver Age of comics, and for the first ten years or so, in terms of artistic quality and story originality, it was always the book to watch. Following his debut in Showcase #4 (cover-dated October 1956) police scientist Barry Allen was characteristically slow in winning his own title but finally after three more trial issues stood on his own wing-tipped feet in The Flash #105 ( a February-March 1959 cover-date so it was out for Christmas 1958).

He never looked back and his first experimental endeavours can – and should – be economically yours by purchasing the previous volume of this series (ISBN13: 978-1-4012-1327-5, covering Showcase #4, 8, 13 and 14 and Flash #105-119).

The comic-book had gelled into a comfortable pattern of two tales per issue alternating with semi-regular book-length thrillers and this volume begins with a glorious example of the latter from Flash #120 (May 1961). The majority of adventures were produced by peripatetic scripter John Broome and the slickly innovative art-team of Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, and ‘Land of Golden Giants!’ saw them at their very best in a fanciful science fiction drama where a small expedition of explorers including Barry and his protégé Wally West – AKA Kid Flash – were catapulted back millennia to the very moment when the primal super-continent (or at least the parts that would become Africa and South America) was splitting apart.

Flash stories always found a way to make cutting-edge science integral and interesting. A regular filler-feature was the speed-themed “Flash-Facts” which became a component of the stories themselves via quirky little footnotes. How many fan-boys turned a “C” to a “B” by dint of their recreational reading? I know I certainly impressed the heck out of a few nuns at the convent school I attended! (But let’s not visualise; simply move on…)

Issue #121 saw the return of a novel old foe as ‘The Trickster Strikes Back!’. The costumed criminality was balanced by Cold War skulduggery in the gripping ‘Secret of the Stolen Blueprint!’ (guest inked by the brilliant Murphy Anderson). Another contemporary zeitgeist undoubtedly led to ‘Beware the Atomic Grenade!’, a witty yarn that introduced a new member to Flash’s burgeoning Rogues Gallery when The Top turned from second-rate thief to global extortionist by means of a rather baroque thermonuclear device.

In counterpoint Kid Flash dealt with smaller scale catastrophe in ‘The Face Behind the Mask’ wherein a pop-star with a secret identity (based, I believe, on a young David Soul who began his showbiz career as a folk singer known as “the Covered Man” because he performed wearing a mask) was blackmailed by a villainous gang of old school friends.

Gardner Fox didn’t write many Flash scripts at this time, but those few he did were all dynamite. None more so than the full-length epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever. ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ introduced the theory of alternate Earths to the continuity and by extension resulted in the pivotal multiversal structure of the DCU, Crisis on Infinite Earths and all the succeeding cosmos-shaking crossover sagas that grew from it. And of course where DC led, others followed…

During a benefit gig Flash accidentally slips into another dimension where he finds that the comic-book hero he based his own superhero identity upon actually exists. Every adventure he had absorbed as an eager child was grim reality to Jay Garrick and his mystery men comrades on the controversially named Earth-2. Locating his idol Barry convinces the elder to come out of retirement just as three Golden Age villains, Shade, Thinker and the Fiddler make their own wicked comeback. And above all else, Flash #123 is a great read that still stands up today.

Utterly unaware of the stir that was brewing in fandom’s ranks, it was business as usual with #124’s alien invasion thriller ‘Space Boomerang Trap!’ which featured an uneasy alliance between the Scarlet Speedster, Elongated Man and the sinister Captain Boomerang whilst the back-up ‘Vengeance Via Television!’ tested our hero’s wits when a mad scientist used TV waves to expose his secret identity.

‘The Conquerors of Time!’ (Flash #125 December 1961) was another mind-boggling classic as time-travelling aliens attempted to subjugate Earth in 2287AD by preventing fissionable elements from forming in 100,842,246BC. Antediluvian lost races, another pivotal role for Kid Flash (easily the most trusted and responsible sidekick of the Silver Age), the introduction of the insanely cool Cosmic Treadmill plus spectacular action make this a benchmark of quality graphic narrative.

The drama continued unabated in the next issue when Mirror Master resurfaced in ‘The Doom of the Mirror Flash!’ whilst the second story looked into Barry Allen’s past in ‘Snare of the Headline Huntress!’ wherein childhood sweetheart Daphne Dean tries to rekindle Barry’s love to boost her Hollywood profile. In #127 ‘Reign of the Super-Gorilla!’ saw Grodd return, using his telepathy to run for Governor (not as daft as it sounds, honest!) whilst Kid Flash resolved parental problems in ‘The Mystery of the Troubled Boy!’ Flash #128 introduced time-travelling magician and psychotic egotist Abra Kadabra in ‘The Case of the Real-Gone Flash!’ but still had room for the intriguing vignette ‘The Origin of Flash’s Masked Identity!’

Fox and Earth-2 returned in #129’s ‘Double Danger on Earth!’ as Jay Garrick ventured to Earth-1 to save his own world from a doom comet, only to fall foul of Captain Cold and the Trickster. As well as double Flash action, this tale pictorially reintroduced Justice Society stalwarts Wonder Woman, Atom, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Doctor Mid-Nite and Black Canary. Clearly Editor Schwartz had something in mind…

For the meantime though it was back to basics with ‘Who Doomed the Flash?’; an intriguing mystery that seemingly pooled the threats of Trickster, Captain Cold, the Top, Captain Boomerang and the Mirror Master in a superb conundrum, brilliantly solved by the Vizier of Velocity whilst his junior partner had problems enough with the Weather Wizard when ‘Kid Flash Meets the Elongated Man!’

RSVP-ing to a landmark guest-shot in Green Lantern #13 (‘Duel of the Super-Heroes!’ – see Showcase Presents Green Lantern vol. 1, ISBN13: 978-1-4012-0759-5) the Emerald Crusader again joined with our hero to defeat alien invaders in the engrossing feature-length ‘Captives of the Cosmic Ray!’ whilst #132’s lead ‘The Heaviest Man Alive!’ returned the speedster to the dimension of Gobdor (‘The Man Who Stole Central City’ from #116 and the previous volume) for another tense, super-scientific puzzle that was also a sly poke at the new Television generation. The second tale featured ‘The Farewell Appearance of Daphne Dean’ as the starlet returned to make amends in a quirky little tearjerker.

Abra Kadabra stole a rather silly encore in ‘The Plight of the Puppet Flash!’ in #133, but this was more than compensated for by the witty and sensitive Kid Flash back-up ‘The Secret of the Handicapped Boys!’ as deaf, blind and mute classmates (one disability per boy, ok?) each discovered the young hero’s secret identity.

In Flash #134, Captain Cold was ‘The Man who Mastered Absolute Zero!’ in a flamboyant thriller that co-starred Elongated Man, whilst Iris West’s father (and Flash’s prospective father-in-law) paid an unwelcome call in the cleverly comedic ‘The Threat of the Absent Minded Professor!’, whilst Kid Flash got a beautiful new costume in the invasion thriller ‘Secret of the Three Super-Weapons!’ in #135.

‘The Mirror Master’s Invincible Bodyguards!’ actually weren’t but the scarlet Speedster had a lot more trouble when a seedy blackmailer claimed ‘Barry Allen – You’re the Flash – and I Can Prove It!’ This type of clever human-scaled story was slowly disappearing in favour of the more colourful costume epics – none more so than the wonderful ‘Vengeance of the Immortal Villain!’ Another incredible Earth-2 crossover, this saw the two Flashes unite to defeat 50,000 year old Vandal Savage and save the Justice Society of America: a tale which directly led into the veteran team’s first meeting with the Justice League of America and the start of all those aforementioned “Crisis” epics.

Garner Fox scripted ‘The Pied Piper’s Double Doom!’, a mesmeric team-up with Elongated Man, but once more the Kid Flash back-up stole the show, introducing the singular thespian Dexter Myles to the steadily growing cast in a charming comedy of errors ‘Mystery of the Matinee Idol!’

Flash #139 introduced the hero’s ultimate nemesis in Professor Zoom, a 25th century criminal who duplicated his super-speed to become the ‘Menace of the Reverse-Flash!’ a taut thriller that even found time to include a cunning sub-plot about nuclear Armageddon, and this volume closes with the contents of #140 (November 1963) which debuts the super arsonist Heat Wave in the stylish ‘The Heat is on for Captain Cold!’ and finally pitted the Monarch of Motion against ‘The Metal-Eater from Beyond the Stars!’ a bizarre energy being that could nullify the speedster’s powers.

As always the emphasis was on brains and learning, not gimmicks or abilities, which is why these tales still work nearly half-a-century later. Coupled with the astounding art of Infantino these tales are a captivating snap-shot of when science was our friend and the universe(s) was a place of infinite possibility.

These tales were crucial to the development of our art-form, but, more importantly they are brilliant, awe-inspiring, beautifully realised thrillers that amuse, amaze and enthral both new readers and old lags. This lovely collection is another must-read item for anybody in love with the world of words-in-pictures.

© 1961, 1962, 1963, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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Runaways volume 5: Escape to New York


By Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa & Craig Yeung (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-408-9

The Runaways are a bunch of super-powered kids whose parents were secretly a cabal of would-be world conquerors called “The Pride”. These villains controlled Los Angeles without the citizens even knowing about it – which was why all the baddies and monsters hung around New York. After many trials and tribulations – including the loss of some of the original kids – the young absconders overthrew their progenitors, with the unwelcome result that LA has become an easy target for ambitious costumed ne’er-do-wells.

Placed with social services, the surviving runaways and a few new recruits took to the streets again, preferring life together and driven to protect the city they unwittingly endangered.

The underlying premise of this series is that adults can’t really be trusted, only your friends and comrades, and this volume (collecting volume 2, issues #7-12 of the monthly comic-book) weaves two plot strands together with engaging dexterity to illustrate the point, as the series finally dives head-first into the swirling chaos of full-on Marvel Universe continuity.

Karolina is the daughter of two extraterrestrials intent on conquest, but now they’re gone an alien prince lands on Earth claiming that he is the husband they arranged for her as a condition of truce between their warring civilisations…

When they were fighting their parents one of the few super-heroes to befriend the kids was the teleporting mutant Cloak, and when he’s accused of attempting to murder his symbiotic partner Dagger, the kids zip off to the Big Apple to clear his name, encountering such obstructive and overbearing luminaries as Captain America, Iron Man Spider-Man, Luke Cage and Wolverine as well as the skeevy New York underclass who are their East Coast counterparts…

Whereas I’m certainly more comfortable with the direction taken here, I acknowledge that some readers drawn in by the stylistic similarities to teen-oriented TV soap-operas might miss the angsty traumas and conflicts that have of necessity been down-played to make room for extra-fights and chases. It’s still wonderfully scripted though, very witty and dry with laughs and tension held in perfect balance.

Escape to New York is the best volume yet and Runaways is still a great “outreach” title to get new readers into comics. If you’re already a fan you might think of it as the ideal gift for that stubborn hold-out or perhaps your kids if they think you’re a bit weird to still be getting your jollies from printed matter…

© 2005, 2006, 2008 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved. A BRITISH EDITION RELEASED BY PANINI UK LTD

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The Lagoon


By Lilli Carré (Fantagraphics Books)
ISBN: 978-1-56097-954-8

What do your comics sound like? What beats and rhythms echo behind your eyes when you absorb pictorial narrative?

The Lagoon presents snatches of young Zoey’s experiences growing up in a rural outpost where she, her parents and her grandfather live beside a cold black lagoon. Within the brackish, weed-choked mire a bizarre, monstrous beast dwells, but her family and the sundry other disparate souls who live nearby gladly tolerate it since it does no obvious harm.

In fact, over the years the incredible, indescribable call of the creature in the night has led to many odd happenings and disappearances. The plaintive cry of the creature obsesses and possesses the humans and as years pass Zoey loses everyone but her grandpa to the night-singer. Her time is taken up with music and learning the piano. But all anyone really hears is that plaint on the midnight breezes…

Dark, ambiguously chilling and comfortable at the same time, the naïve-ist illustration compulsively uses patterns and symbols to depict how sounds look and music appears while recounting the relationship of the creature – far, far more than a dumb beast – and the inevitably maturing and isolated young girl. This intensely experimental picture-parable is mesmerising and powerfully effective for all its brevity.

Lilli Carr̩ first drew critical attention with her short stories (collected as Tales of Woodsman Pete) and this slim black and white tome Рher first graphic novel Рis another whimsical, expressive and bleakly enchanting exploration of great power and gentle lyricism. Far from our own self-created genre-ghettos this is a perfect book for the discerning reader in search of something different.

© 2008 Lilli Carré. All Rights Reserved.

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The Immortal Iron Fist volume 1: The Last Iron Fist Story


By Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2489-4

Iron Fist sprang out of the 1970s Kung Fu craze, by way of a heartfelt tribute from originators Roy Thomas and Gil Kane to Bill Everett’s golden Age super-hero Amazing Man (who appeared from 1939-1945 in Centaur Comics).

Young Danny Rand travels with his parents and uncle to the mysterious Himalayas. Searching for the “lost city of K’un Lun” which only appears once every ten years, the boy’s father is murdered by the uncle, and his mother sacrifices herself to save her child. Alone in the wilderness, the city finds him and he spends the next ten years mastering all forms of martial arts.

A decade later he returns to the real world intent on vengeance, further armed with a mystic punch gained by killing the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying. When he eventually achieves his goal the lad is at something of a loose end and – by default – a billionaire, as his murderous uncle had turned the family business into a multi-national megalith.

The series ran in Marvel Premiere #15-25 (from May 1974 to October 1975), plagued by an inability to keep a creative team (writers and artists included Len Wein, Doug Moench, Tony Isabella, Larry Hama, Arvell Jones, Keith Pollard, Pat Broderick and Al McWilliams) before Chris Claremont and John Byrne steadied the ship and produced a superb run of issues for his own title (Iron Fist #1-15, November 1975 – September 1977). After cancellation the character drifted, until paired with Luke Cage following a splendid three-part try-out in Power Man #48-50.

Power Man & Iron Fist ran from #51 until the book was cancelled in 1986 (#125). The K’un Lun Kid has died, come back and cropped up all over the Marvel universe as guest star, co-star and even in a few of his own miniseries.

This volume contains issues #1-6 of Immortal Iron Fist as well as excerpts from Civil War: Choosing Sides, and follows the directionless hero as he struggles to find his place in the world. Discovering a plot by subversive super-terrorist organisation Hydra to steal his company Danny also learns the secret history of his dragon-power and the lives of previous Iron Fists when he stumbles across his renegade predecessor Orson Randall, on the run from K’un Lun since the First World War…

The book also includes the eight-page prequel from the Civil War: Choosing Sides one-shot, guest-starring Daredevil, plus a fascinating sketch section that describes the design process for the reworked and new characters and superb covers.

A lightning-paced, sleekly exotic thriller blending contemporary costumed drama with gritty period battles (illustrated by a phalanx of talented veterans including Russ Heath, John Severin, Sal Buscema and Tom Palmer), Brubaker’s compelling script and the stylish, compulsive art of David Aja (with Travel Foreman & Derek Fridolfs) carries the reader to a superb climax but no conclusion. Ending on a strangely satisfying cliffhanger, I’ve no doubt that every reader (even new ones – the script is wonderfully inclusive and assumes you don’t know the characters well) will gladly seek out the second volume. I’m certainly going to…

© 2006, 2007 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Beware of the Dog


By Pericle Luigi Giovannetti (Macmillan)
ASIN: B0000CK63L

Pericle Luigi Giovanetti was a huge star in the cartoon firmament in the years following World War II, and a prolific one who appealed to fans of all ages. Born in 1916 in Basel, he launched his most beloved character Max in Punch in April 1953. Max was a small, round furry creature like a hamster, whose wordless pantomimes were cute, whimsical and trenchantly self-deprecating. Don’t ask me how a beautifully rendered little puff-ball could stand for pride and pomposity punctured, but he did. It was also blissfully free of mawkish sentimentality, a funny animal for adults.

So imagine how such a graphic talent would flower when he turned his dry, laconic eye upon Man’s Best Friend? Luckily you don’t have to as in 1958 this fabulous collection of 52 pooches, drawn in a variety of styles and even captioned in two separate languages (French and English), and thanks to contemporary wits Mark Laurence and Richard Maury, three separate comedic styles, is available as your pedigree guide!

Giovanetti was a master of the pen, with a sparse and economical line, and completely au fait with all brush techniques from dry-point to tonal wash painting. The sheer variety he exhibits in this book would make any would-be illustrator weep with jealousy if they weren’t already splitting their sides with mirth.

To my knowledge there were six other Giovannetti books and collections between 1954 and 1961: Max, Max Presents, Nothing But Max, the Penguin Max, Birds Without Words and Hamid of Aleppo – and not one of these gems is currently in print! The sheer artistic virtuosity of Giovanetti is astounding to see. That his work should be forgotten is a crime. If you ever, ever find a collection of his work don’t hesitate!

Fetch!
© 1958 P. L. Giovannetti. All Rights Reserved.

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Jumpstart: The Strangers Collection


By Steve Englehart, Rick Hoberg & various (Malibu Comics)
No ISBN:

I sometimes give the impression that I don’t like superhero comics. Nothing could be further from the truth. What I don’t like is mindless retreads or endless repetition – and rubbish.

Mercifully none of those terms applies to The Strangers, premiere team-book of the Malibu Ultraverse. Purpose-built as a shared universe by a potent handful of creators including Mike Barr, Steve Gerber, James Hudnall, Gerard Jones, James Robinson, Len Strazewski, Larry Niven (oh so briefly) and Steve Englehart (probably the most accomplished – at least in terms of commercial success), they had a short burst of impressive creativity before being bought out lock, stock and bombastic barrel by corporate monolith Marvel Comics, who made a cursory attempt to integrate the various properties before shelving the lot.

Nevertheless the introductory yarn ‘Jumpstart’ easily falls into my “lost little gem” category, and as it was one of the very few story-arcs to make it into a trade paperback I can take this opportunity to recommend it and ask for more.

Collecting issues #1-3 and 5 of the comic-book (issue #4 being part of a company-wide crossover entitled ‘Breakthrough’) this breezy yarn introduces us to the Ultraverse as a San Francisco cable car (like our own dear-departed trams) is struck by an energy bolt out of a clear sky. The fifty-nine passengers on their morning journeys are all given different super-powers by the bolt and a motorist hit by the careening trolleybus is critically injured (he’ll eventually become the hero Night Man, with his own great comic and bad TV show).

The story focuses on six of those passengers as they band together to find out what happened to them and to ensure that none of the other passengers abuse their new gifts. Ultimately they’re joined by a mysterious sorceress from a floating island and plunge into the colourful chaos of full-on super-heroics.

Englehart and Hoberg managed to impart fresh characterisation and old-fashioned gusto to a jaded sub-genre, and if you can find this slim volume there’s a huge amount of simple fun to be had here. The entire line was geared to the reading, rather than collector audience, and Marvel – or whoever currently owns these properties – would be very smart to repackage them for today’s graphic novel-oriented marketplace.

But I’m not holding my breath…
© 1994 Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Tank Girl Two (Remastered)


By Hewlett & Martin (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-759-4

Hard on the funky-booted heels of the first volume, the second in the series of remastered, chronologically complete compilations featuring the wildly absurdist ever-so-cool independent girl who took the early 1990s by storm includes work from Deadline March 1990 to April 1993, plus relevant excerpts from The Tank Girl Postermag, the Comic Relief Benefit Comic and a Christmas prezzie from the December 1990 Speakeasy.

Never too wedded to the concept of internal logic or narrative consistency (or spelling – so if you’re pedantic be warned!), the next couple of years saw the creative team’s energies dissipated by other gigs, with a consequent irregularity of stories about the big-eared social iconoclast. But the level of in-yer-face absurdity, British Cultural Sampling and addictive sex’n’violence remained high in such smuttily psycho-active tales as ‘I’ve Got Friends at Bell’s End’ and ‘Force Ten to Ringarooma Bay’ whilst the introduction of vibrant colour for the 5 part ‘Summer Love Sensation’ (a nominal return to the old homestead for the slap-happy slapper and her mates) plus the visually stunning ‘Sunflower’ from The Tank Girl Postermag did much to cement her position as the style touchstone for the crucially hip of the commercial acid-house generation beyond the world of comics.

In Deadline the work became more radical, experimental and often impenetrable (perhaps rushed would be kinder or fairer). Three-part Seventies crime-spoof ‘Askey & Hunch’ was self-indulgent and far too long whilst the Jack Kerouac homage/pastiche ‘Blue Helmet’ was often clever, sharp, funny and facile at the same time. The art however, was always astounding – radical, fresh and with an underlying patina of unique Englishness made up of equal parts Steve Parkhouse, Brendan McCarthy and sheer original enthusiasm.

Always self-referential, the strip hit new highs with ‘The Fall and Rise and Fall of the Ship in the Bottle’ and ‘Guide to Joy’ (Hewlett & Martin’s observations on swearing, sex, the mind, drugs, comics and fans). The book closes with a selection of strip oddities comprising ‘Booga’s Christmas Carol’ (from Speakeasy), ‘Jet Gurl in Hairy Pussy’ (Deadline December 1992) and the two pages by Hewlett and Martin from the Comic Relief Comic jam featuring a stupendous battle between Dawn “I’m Sorry Jennifer Woman” French and Ben “Student Fridge Sausage Man” Elton. The heady brew is all topped off with a selection of covers from Deadline USA and the Tank Girl II Dark Horse Comics US reprint comics.

Even if you’ve never seen the anarchic, surreal, ultra-violent (in a funny way) and neo-pop-culturally drenched peculiarity that was Tank Girl, or if the gag might be wearing a little thin in places, this is still a culturally viable, generally readable and wonderfully pretty package of Rude Britannia, and a part of our history well worth the occasional visit.

TM & © 2009 Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin. All rights reserved.

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Diana Prince: Wonder Woman Vol. 4


By Denny O’Neil, Samuel R. Delaney, Bob Haney, Don Heck, Dick Giordano & Jim Aparo (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84856-156-4

In this concluding chronicle of the de-powered Wonder Woman (comprising issues #199-204 of her own comic plus her team-up with Batman from Brave and the Bold #105) the unique vision and quirky style of Mike Sekowsky is noticeably absent as sometime scripter Denny O’Neil returns for a by-the-numbers thriller illustrated by Marvel veteran Don Heck, with visual continuity assured by inker Dick Giordano.

‘Tribunal of Fear’ is a muddled, fashion-based crime thriller guest-starring private eye Jonny Double, and the concluding part (WW #200, by O’Neil and Giordano) sees the return of an old foe in ‘The Beauty Hater!’. Perhaps these tales should be best remembered for their covers, crafted by the illustrious Jeff Jones.

Catwoman contended with the mortal Amazon in #201’s ‘The Fist of Flame’ when Diana and her mentor I Ching journeyed to Tibet in pursuit of a fabulous, cursed gem which precipitated another extra-dimensional jaunt. Designed to introduce DC’s newest property, noted novelist Samuel R. Delaney joined Giordano for ‘Fangs of Fire’, a helter-skelter epic as Diana, Ching and Catwoman battled with and beside Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd the Barbarian and the Gray Mouser (the soon-to-be stars of the brief but superb Sword of Sorcery licensed comic).

This wonderfully extravagant delight was followed by ‘Play Now… Die Later!’ (by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo, Brave and the Bold #105) as Diana joined Batman in Gotham City for a gritty, fast-paced thriller involving kidnappers and South American revolutionaries, before Delaney and Giordano took her into a fascinating new direction in the socially-aware Women’s Rights tale ‘The Grandee Caper’.

Comic fans love to gossip. When the next issue appeared it devoted the first twelve pages to undoing everything that had happened since Wonder Woman lost her powers in issue #179, before revising her mythical origin and returning her to her world of immortal Gods, Amazons and super-villains, with a new black nemesis, Nubia.

‘The Second Life of the Original Wonder Woman’ by Robert Kanigher, Heck and Giordano is not such a bad story, but its abrupt reversals had tongues wagging and heads spinning. Had the series offended some shady “higher-ups” who didn’t want controversy or a shake-up of the status quo?

I think not. Sales were never great on the title, and the most logical reason is probably Television.

The Amazon had been optioned as a series since the days of the Batman show in 1967, and by this time – 1973 – work had undoubtedly begun on the original 1974 pilot featuring Cathy Lee Crosby. An abrupt return to the character most viewers would be familiar with from their own childhoods seems perfectly logical to me… By the time Linda Carter made the concept live Wonder Woman was once again “Stronger than Hercules, swifter than Mercury and more beautiful than Aphrodite…”

Comics are an art-form dictated by markets, driven by sales and influenced by fashion. For a brief moment all these factors and a few gifted creators gelled to produce a compelling, engaging and utterly fabulous tranche of tales that are timelessly perfect and eternally fresh. And now you can read them whenever you feel the need simply by opening these pages…

© 1972, 1973, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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The Books of Magic


By Neil Gaiman, John Bolton, Scott |Hampton, Charles Vess & Paul Johnson (Vertigo)
ISBN13: 978-1-85286-470-5

Way back when Neil Gaiman was just making a name for himself at DC he was asked to consolidate and rationalise the role of magic in that expansive shared universe. Over the course of four Prestige Format editions a quartet of mystical champions (thereinafter known as “the Trenchcoat Brigade”) took a London schoolboy on a Cook’s Tour of Time, Space and Infinite Dimensions in preparation for his becoming the most powerful wizard of the 21st Century, and an overwhelming force for Light or Darkness.

Shy, bespectacled Timothy Hunter is an inoffensive lad unaware of his incredible potential for Good or Evil (and yes, I know who he looks like but this series came out eight years before anybody had ever heard of Hogwarts, so get over it). In an attempt to keep him righteous the self-appointed mystic guides provide him, and us, with a full tutorial in the history and state of play of The Art and its major practitioners and adepts. However, although the four guardians are not united in their plans and hopes for the boy, the “other side” certainly are. If Hunter cannot be turned to the Dark he has to die…

In Book one, ‘the Invisible Labyrinth’ painted by John Bolton, The Phantom Stranger shows Tim the history of magic with introductions to Lucifer, Atlantis, the Ancient Empires, Jason Blood and the boy Merlin, Zatara and Sargon the Sorcerer.

Scott Hampton illustrates the second chapter wherein John Constantine hosts a trip to ‘the Shadow World’ of the modern DCU, introducing the lad to contemporary players such as Deadman, Madame Xanadu, the Spectre, Doctor Fate, Baron Winter (of Night Force fame), Dr. Thirteen the Ghost-Breaker and Zatanna, who organises a trip to a mage’s bar where the likes of Tala Queen of Darkness and the diabolical Tannarak take matters into their own wicked hands.

Dr. Occult (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster years before Superman debuted) takes the boy on a journey to the outer lands and the Realms of Faerie, courtesy of Charles Vess in ‘the Land of Summer’s Twilight’: a beautiful, evocative segment that informs much of Timothy Hunter’s life in the Vertigo comicbook series and graphic collections that inevitably spun off from this saga. Cameos here include Warlord, Nightmaster, Amethyst and Gemworld, the Demon, Cain, Abel and the Sandman.

‘The Road to Nowhere’ is painted by Paul Johnson and concludes the peregrination as the ruthlessly fanatical Mister E takes the boy to the end of time, where he has his own plans for him. Beyond Darkseid and the climactic battles and crises of our time, past the Legion of Super Heroes, the end of Order and Chaos, to the moment Sandman’s siblings Destiny and Death switch off the dying universe, Tim sees how everything ends before returning to make his choice: Good or Evil, Magic or mundane?

Despite an “everything and the kitchen sink” tone this is still a cracking good yarn as well as a useful scorecard for all things supernatural, and which still has overwhelming relevance to today’s DC universe. It still stands a worthy primer for newcomers who need a little help with decades of back-story which cling to so many DC tales, even today.
© 1990, 1991, 2001 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

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British Cartoonists Album


By various (Panther Books)
No ISBN:

On the 1st April 1960 a bunch of jaded hacks and whackos who made their dubious living from drawing humorous skits and silly pictures of tough men and largely unclad women met in a pub called The Feathers in Tudor Street, London. From that inaugural drunken binge the British Cartoonists Club was formed. (Today they’re known as the Cartoonists Club of Great Britain).

In 1962 this loose agglomeration of the greatest gagsters, pen-men and brush-smiths in the Kingdom produced a wonderful over-sized book in conjunction with Anthony Gibbs & Phillips (subsequently released as a paperback in 1964) that highlighted the talents and achievements of the membership and consequently became one of my favourite books of cartooning ever.

Still available if you trawl that there interweb thing, The British Cartoonists Album is stuffed with examples of brilliant work, both dramatic and comedic from the last days of mass-market cartooning, when our profession was still big enough to differentiate between topical, editorial, sporting, caricature, juvenile (which means for young people, not what you’re thinking), illustrative, technical, sophisticated , saucy and probably a dozen other categories I’m not old enough to remember. The book also and acted not just as a proud example of Cartoon work but also as a professional portfolio for the club which always sought (and still does) ways to further and promote members careers.

With examples from 169 different creators including Bill Tidy, Scarfe, Low, Thelwell, David Langdon, Smythe, Ferrier, Dickens, Giles, Osbert Lancaster, Les Lilley, Roy Nixon, Gammidge, Maddocks, Trog, Sax, Steadman and a host of others, and including a mouth-watering selection of contemporary newspaper strips such Garth, The Perishers, Jane – Daughter of Jane, Romeo Brown, Andy Capp, Buck Ryan, The Flutters, The Larks, Barley Bottom, Colonel Pewter, Useless Eustace, Lindy, Flook, Paul Temple, Matt Marriott, Twick and For Better or Worse this is a lost treasure in desperate need of up-dating and re-release.

Perhaps it’s a little cruel to highlight such a wonderful book that many of you won’t ever see, but the material here and lost in the mouldering pages of thousands of papers and magazines is a vital part of our culture and heritage and their eventual loss is something we’ll all regret in the end, so I’m going to bang on about until someone – be it commercial publisher or heritage wallah does something about it.

Hell, get me an Arts Council grant and I’ll do it myself…
© 1962 Anthony Gibbs & Phillips. All rights reserved. The proprietary rights of all individual trademark and copyright holders is acknowledged throughout.