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June 25, 2014June 24, 2014

Superior Spider-Man: Goblin Nation

By Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Humberto Ramos, John Dell & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-602-1

Amazing Spider-Man #700 began one of the most impressive reboots of the wondrous Webslinger’s mythology and was certainly the most striking and compelling character shake-up of all the MarvelNOW! relaunches.

In that issue, all that was Peter Parker apparently died when Doctor Otto Octavius took over his body. The hero’s mind had been trapped in the super-villain’s expiring body where, despite his every effort, at the last Peter perished with and within that decrepit frame.

Permanently installed in a strong and vital body, the coldly calculating Octopus began living Peter’s life, albeit with some minor necessary alterations, upgrades and improvements: arguably becoming a wholly Superior Spider-Manâ€¦

At first the situation did not seem completely hopeless. At the moment of the monster’s greatest triumph Peter inflicted his full unvarnished memories on the psychic invader, forcing Octavius to experience every ghastly moment of tragedy and sacrifice which combined to make Spider-Man the compulsive do-gooder that he was.

From that enforced emotional turmoil came a bitter understanding. Otto had a change of heart and swore to live the rest of his stolen life in tribute to his greatest enemy; earnestly endeavouring to carry on Spider-Man’s self-imposed mission and inescapably guided by Peter’s abiding principle: â€œwith great power comes great responsibilityâ€â€¦

However Octavius’ monomania proved hard to suppress and the overwritten webspinner constantly toiled to prove himself a better man: augmenting Parker’s paltry gadgets and methodology with millions of spying â€œSpiderbotsâ€ to patrol the entire city at once, always adding advanced tech and new weaponry to his uniform and, most importantly, acting pre-emptively rather than merely reacting to crises as the original hadâ€¦

Otto went back to college because he refused to live life without a doctorate and even briefly tried to rekindle his new body’s old relationship with Mary Jane Watson.

The new, ultra-efficient Spider-Man became New York’s darling and even Mayor J. Jonah Jameson embraced the hero; all but adopting the Arachnid as his deputy – to the utter incredulity of an imperceptible psychic shard of Peter which still screamed in frustration within the deepest recesses of the hero’s overwritten consciousnessâ€¦

The helpless ghost was an unwilling passenger, unsuspected by Octavius yet increasingly privy to the villain’s own barely-suppressed memories. Moreover, many of Parker’s oldest friends and allies began to suspect something amissâ€¦

Police CSI and ex-girlfriend Carlie Cooper knew Peter’s secret identity and recalled the last time Spidey fought Doc Ock, when the killer broke her arm. He had claimed then that it was an accident: that he was Peter trapped in the villain’s bodyâ€¦

The public seemed happy with the changed Spider-Man. Not only was he more efficient, but far more brutal too: crippling bad guys like Boomerang, Vulture and Scorpion. This hard-line attitude actually increased the wallcrawler’s approval rating and, after a hostage siege, his status peaked when he executed the psychotic perpetrator Massacreâ€¦

Eventually Octavius realised there was a noble passenger in his head and eradicated the last vestiges of his insidious enemy’s presence – at the cost of many of Parker’s later memories. However, now utterly liberated, Otto ambitiously extended his campaign of modernised crime-fighting.

After helping Jameson when the Spider-Slayer and other super-felons broke loose on The Raft penitentiary, Spider-Man blackmailed the Mayor into giving him the now-empty island edifice for a base. The Superior Wallcrawler designed a new costume, built giant war-tanks and even hired henchmen to be his â€œSpiderlingsâ€, helping him clean up the city for decent, law-abiding citizens.

â€œParker’sâ€ personal life was all but over. Finally achieving a doctorate, he opened his own tech start-up company and entered into a romance with brilliant college companion Anna Maria Marconi whilst his arachnid alter ego monitored the metropolis through the electronic eyes of the tiny but universal spiderbots from his transformed citadel on the now-renamed Spider Island IIâ€¦

There’s still plenty that he doesn’t see though: resurgent criminal mastermind Goblin King (former Green Goblin Norman Osborn) had taken over the underworld through his Goblin Army Cult.

To that end he transformed young Phil Urich – latest iteration of The Hobgoblin – into his devilishly Strong Right Arm: a Goblin Knight to lead his armies to inevitable victoryâ€¦

Carlie had shared her suspicions about Otto possessing Spider-Man with her friend Police Captain Yuri Watanabe (who secretly moonlights as costumed vigilante The Wraith). Together they gathered proof of their suspicions regarding the Ock and the Wallcrawler; but the mission went cold when Cooper suddenly vanishedâ€¦

Elsewhere disgraced psychopathic genius Ty Stone joined Osborn’s daughter-in-law Liz Allen-Osborn as director at her new conglomerate Alchemax. He was cautiously building his own powerbase, unaware that his new assistant Michael O’Mara was in truth Miguel O’Hara, (Spider-Man 2099) trapped in our era following a chronal crisisâ€¦

Otto/Peter was trying to repair his relationship with Aunt May and her wealthy husband (J. Jonah’s dad Jay Jameson), helplessly re-experiencing the lad’s abiding affection for the gracious old lady. However after seeing Spider-Man at work torturing a captured foe, May wanted her family to have nothing to do with the Arachnid, even though Peter’s company was officially the creator of all the Superior Spider-Man’s gadgets and crime-fighting improvementsâ€¦

As Yuri searched for Carlie, she came to the understandable but erroneous conclusion that Spider-Man was responsible for her abrupt disappearance, whilst Ock’s Spiderlings continually scanned the city for signs of the Goblin cult, neither side able to glean that deep in a subterranean lair Carlie was suffering at the hands of the Goblin King.

The villain was hungry to learn all she knew about Spider-Man (information the mentally unstable Osborn had himself forgotten), but only got what he was after once he’d dosed her with the madness-inducing mutagenic goblin formula which had originally transformed him from business mogul to costumed maniacâ€¦

The bid to transform her into one of his faithful acolytes worked perfectly, and artificially crazed new acolyte Monster seemed delighted to join his vile viridian familyâ€¦

In the Mayor’s office Jonah Jameson, fed up with Spider-Man’s exploitative extortion, commissioned Stone and Alchemax to build a new generation of Spider-Slayer robots. The unscrupulous technologist was happy to turn the project over to his new protÃ©gÃ©â€¦

In other news: Green Goblin had declared war on his rival (and cheap knock-off) Roderick Kingsley who had been franchising super-villain gigs and poaching capers as the Hobgoblin, preparatory to making his big move on the city.

Parker’s Avenger ally Iron Man finally secured concrete proof that the Superior Spider-Man had been playing fast and loose with the truth from the very startâ€¦

Worst of all, after being briefly possessed by the Venom Symbiote Otto had awaked the aggravating ghost of the real Peter Parker in the recesses of their co-owned headâ€¦

To Be Concludedâ€¦

Scripted by Dan Slott with Christos N. Gage, Goblin Nation brings the saga of the brilliant bodysnatcher to a spectacular close, collecting issues #26-31 of the Superior Spider-Man as well as the second Annual (encompassing November 2013- April 2014), delivering a stunning conclusion to the story of Otto Octavius in advance of the Amazing return of the one true Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Manâ€¦

‘Goblin Nation Prelude: Goblin Wars’ illustrated by Humberto Ramos, Javier Rodriguez, Marcos Martin, Victor Olazaba & Alvaro Lopez, opens as Goblin Nation soldiers and Hobgoblin’s crew clash one last time, whilst across town the Superior Spider-Man’s battle with AIM is interrupted by an indignant pack of Avengers demanding some honest answersâ€¦

Deep in Octavius’ mindscape, everything that remains of Peter Parker reviews again the 31 key memories left after Ock performed psychic surgery to excise his young foe’s thoughts and influence. They aren’t much, but they are the very quintessence of what made the boy a heroâ€¦

In the outer world Goblin King kills Hobgoblin, subsequently recruiting his victim’s men to the cause. Suspicious and fearful, his Goblin Knight Phil Urich wisely conceals from Osborn the fact that the corpse is not Kingsley but only a brainwashed proxy, whilst at Avengers Tower, the interview with the Webslinger goes badly and â€œSpider-Manâ€ quits the World’s Mightiest Heroesâ€¦

‘Goblin Nation’ resumes 31 days later with New York City devastated and all but conquered by Osborn’s ghoulish forces. Spider-Man is reeling at his impossible fall from grace. The invaders have combined ruthless force with subversive computer programming to decimate the city’s defences and defendersâ€¦

As Otto questions how it could all have happened he accesses one of Parker’s remaining memories just as the ghost in his mindscape remembers the same event. Curiosity piqued, Peter finds a memory starring Octavius and enters Otto’s representation only to find himself trapped and reliving the villain’s life – every cruel, brutally sad moment of itâ€¦

In the physical world, crushed Otto-in-Peter labours to create a technical solution to the Goblin invasion, whilst his concerned girlfriend Anna Maria Marconi looks on helplessly. Suitably equipped he then invades Osborn’s underworld for a showdown but is appalled when the madman announces that he knows he’s talking to Doctor Octopus not Peter Parkerâ€¦

Goblin King offers Otto a subordinate role in his new empire and, when the monomaniac Arachnid refuses and escapes, Osborn sends a battalion of his creepy minions to raze Spider Island and everything on itâ€¦

With Giuseppe Camuncoli & John Dell assuming the art chores the story continues with only Otto getting away: sneaking off like a whipped dog thanks to his robot slave â€œThe Living Brainâ€, whilst deep in his head, the real hero struggles to retain his own identity whilst experiencing every frustration and defeat that made Octavius who he is.

On TV Mayor Jameson has denounced Spider-Man and announced his own solution to the crisis: a â€œSlayer Patrolâ€ army of super-robots designed to take back the streets. Watching the broadcast, Mary Jane and boyfriend Pedro Olivera are suddenly attacked by a detachment of Goblins. Fighting them off, MJ realises that all Spider-Man’s friends and family must be targets and moves to warn and save themâ€¦ if she canâ€¦

At Parker Industries, The Wraith attacks â€œPeterâ€ believing he has kidnapped Carlie only to have the battle interrupted by Monster. Recognising the missing girl has been mutated by Goblin-serum, Parker and his colleague Sajani Jaffrey capture the raving acolyte and attempt to reverse the processâ€¦

Mary Jane has narrowly moved May and Jay before the Goblins could find them, but is not able to save Anna Maria from capture and as the next chapter opens the Goblin Underground is in control of New York. With Otto/Peter frantically working on curing Carlie Osborn celebrates his triumph by blowing up all the landmarks and repositories of Octavius’ past successes, prompting the Superior Spider-Man to rashly come after him. The final straw is the Goblin’s boast that he has all his friends. Unable to reach Anna Maria the Wallcrawler tackles Goblin King head-on and one of the Emerald sociopath’s hostages pays the final priceâ€¦

Deep in the Mindscape Peter has been subsumed by Otto’s memories and is gone just as the memory lane reaches the point where Arachnid and Octopus began their lethal rivalry, whilst in the real world Spider-Man’s rage and torment are momentarily forgotten when Jameson’s Spider-Slayer robots attack him.

Luckily Spider-Man 2099 is there to disable them but even he is taken by surprise when Osborn hacks their programming, turning the mechanoids into another terror weapon to destroy the city and its heroesâ€¦

The epic takes a necessary detour as Superior Spider-Man Annual #2 offers a brace of tales scripted by Gage as intersecting sidebars to the unfolding calamity, beginning with ‘Blood Ties’.

Illustrated by Javier Rodriguez & Alvaro Lopez, the downbeat yarn chronicles Daily Bugle reporter Ben Urich‘s desperate attempts to save his nephew Phil from the curse of the Green Goblin and his own weak nature whilst ‘Chasing Ghosts’ (art by Philipe Briones) reveals how Sajani and the Wraith begin administering their highly experimental cure on Carlie and discover the secret of how Osborn has been subverting the City and Spider-Man’s electronic security systemsâ€¦

Back in Superior Spider-Man #30, Otto’s battle against Osborn has reached a critical stage, just as in the Mindscape helpless passenger Parker reaches the point where Ock took over his body. Galvanised by shock the hero returns to full mental control of himself but not, crucially, the body Otto still commands.

The usurper is in dire straits: frozen by indecision as Osborn threatens to kill another hostage. The occluded sight of the frail female form has paralysed the Superior Spider-Man, but not Parker who forces the faux hero to actâ€¦

The victim is not Anna Maria and in a final example of excoriating self-examination Otto realises he cannot save her. Thus he willingly surrenders his consciousness allowing Peter Parker to reclaim forever their body.

It might not be an act of kindness. Even though the Amazing Spider-Man is back Osborn has never been stronger or more likely to triumph or take the world to destruction with himâ€¦

This truly titanic terminal tome includes a covers-&-variants gallery by Ryan Stegman, Ramos, Camuncoli, Mark Brooks, Jennifer Parks, David Marquez, J. Scott Campbell, Jorge Molina, Kevin Maguire and Tim Sale and comes fully augmented with AR icon sections – Marvel Augmented Reality App pages which provide access to story bonuses and content on your smart-phone or Android-enabled tablet.

Spectacular, sensational and breathtakingly satisfying, the all-action conclusion offers a stunning climax to the catastrophic carnage with the original Wallcrawler utterly transcendent as he resumes his rightful position in the world, but even with the Superior Saga ended the aftermath has stacked up a huge number of changes, problems and perils for Parker to deal with in the days to come.

To Be Continuedâ€¦
â„¢ & Â© 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

June 24, 2014September 3, 2017

Valerian and Laureline book 6: Ambassador of the Shadows

By MÃ©ziÃ©res & Christin, with colours by E. TranlÃ© and translated by Jerome Saincantin (Cinebook)
ISBN: 978-1-84918-178-5Â Â (Dargaud edition) 2-205-06949-7

ValÃ©rian and Laureline is the most influential science fiction comics series ever drawn, an innovation-packed big ideas drama stuffed with wry comment and sardonic sideswipes at contemporary mores and prejudices.

Although to a large extent those venerable strips defined and later re-defined the medium itself, anybody who has seen a Star Wars movie or that franchise’s numerous homages, pastiches and rip-offs has been exposed to many doses of Jean-Claude MÃ©ziÃ©res & Pierre Christin’s brilliant imaginings uniquely innovative, grungy, lived-in authentic futurism and light-hearted swashbuckling rollercoaster romps of MÃ©ziÃ©res & Christin than any other cartoon spacer.

ValÃ©rian: Spatio-Temporal Agent debuted in Pilote #420 (November 9^th 1967) and was an instant hit. It gradually evolved into ValÃ©rian and Laureline as the feisty sidekick developed into the equal partner – if not scene stealing star – in a light-hearted, fantastically imaginative time-travelling, space-warping fantasy stuffed with wry, satirical, humanist action and political commentary.

At first Valerian was an affable, capable but unimaginative by-the-book space cop tasked with protecting the official universal chronology by counteracting paradoxes caused by incautious time-travellers.

When ValÃ©rian travelled to 11^th century France in debut tale ‘Les Mauvais RÃªves (‘Bad Dreams’ and still not translated into English yet), he was rescued from doom by a fiery, capable young woman named Laureline. He brought her back to the 28^th century super-citadel and administrative capital of the Terran Empire, Galaxity. The indomitable female firebrand trained as a Spatiotemporal operative and began accompanying him on all his missions.

Ambassador of the Shadows originally ran in Pilote from July to October 1975 and finds the wide-ranging Spatiotemporal agents assigned to an arrogant and obnoxious Terran diplomat transferring to the cosmically cosmopolitan space edifice known as Point Central.

Over the eons many races and species have converged there for commerce and social intercourse by the simple expedient of bolting their own prefabricated constructed segment to the colossal, continually expanding hodge-podge wholeâ€¦

With no central authority, different species take turns presiding over the amassed multitudes via the immense Hall of Screens. However, no decent species would ever leave its own tailor-made environmentâ€¦

And now it is Earth’s turn to take the lead but, as they vector in for landing, the pompous martinet they are escorting informs Valerian and Laureline of a slight modification in their orders. They are still to the Ambassador’s bodyguards but must stay extra vigilant as Earth is going to uses its term in office to bring â€œorder and disciplineâ€ to the lackadaisical way the universe is run.

The assembled races will be invited to join a federation run – and policed – by Earth. â€¦And just to make sure, there’s a Terran space fleet of 10, 000 warships manoeuvring just out of Point Central’sÂ sensor rangeâ€¦

Laureline is outraged but like Valerian can do nothing except acquiesce. For her pains she is put in charge of the mission’s funds – a Grumpy Transmuter from Bluxte – which can mass-excrete any currency or object of trade or barter swallowed by its always scowling other endâ€¦

All kitted-out, the trio and the living cash-machine spacewalk to Point Central but before the mission can begin an alien ambush occurs. Mystery warriors using Xoxos cocoon guns inundate the attending officers and dignitaries and only Valerian escapes plastic entombment.

As the raiders make off with the Ambassador, the Spatiotemporal Agent gives chase but is easily captured and dragged off tooâ€¦

By the time Laureline breaks loose they are long gone and she is left to pick up the pieces with stiff-necked human bureaucrat Colonel Diol, Under Chief of Protocol.

Determined but with little to go on, she is cautiously optimistic when a trio of aliens come knocking. Ignoring Diol’s protest at the shocking impropriety she invites the scurrilous Shingouz into the Earth Segment. They are mercenary information brokers and claim to have been invited by the Ambassador before his abductionâ€¦

From them – and thanks to the pained efforts of the Grumpy Transmuter – she purchases a few hints and allegations as well as a map of Point Central which might lead to Earth’s secret allies in the cosmopolisâ€¦

With the constantly bleating Diol reluctantly in tow, Laureline begins a quest through the underbelly of the station, seeing for the first time the mute but ubiquitous Zools: a much ignored under-race which has been maintaining Point Central for millennia.

The Earthlings’ perambulations take them to the centaur-like Kamuniks: barbaric feudal mercenaries allied to Galaxity and appreciative of humanity’s martial prowess, and over a lavish feast – liberally augmented by another painfully exotic payment courtesy of the overworked Transmuter – the warriors steer Laureline towards potential suspects the Bagulins: low grade muscle-for-hire who frequent the tawdry red-light sector run by The Suffussâ€¦

Despite Diol’s nigh-apoplexy the adamant and inquisitive Laureline follows the trail to the sin segment where she experiences the particular talents of the hosts: amorphous shapeshifters who can make any carnal dream come literally true.

Well into overtime now, the exhausted Grumpy buys the help of one Suffuss who smuggles the junior Spatiotemporal operative into a Bagulin party and the next link in the chainâ€¦

And so it goes as, with occasional prodding from the Shingouz, Laureline gets ever-closer to the enigmatic beings truly pulling all the strings on Point Central whilst elsewhere Valerian frees the Ambassador from a bizarre and ethereal captivity only to find the doctrinaire war-maker is undergoing a strange change of heart.

Seemingly landing their deserted ship on a paradisiacal â€œworld with no nameâ€ they bask in an idyllic paradise and converse with noble primitives who have an uncanny aura of great power.

These beings built the first section of Point Central and ruled the universe before withdrawing from mundane material affairs, but they still maintain a watch over their creation from the shadows and won’t let any race or species to dominate or conquer their pan-galactic melting pot of spaceâ€¦

In a more physical portion of reality Laureline follows her final clues and reaches the strange central area where Val and the Ambassador lie dazed and confused. By the time they all return to the Earth Segment a few major changes have taken place in the governance of the immense star station but, oddly, the Ambassador doesn’t seem to mindâ€¦

Ambassador of the Shadows was the first Valerian tale to make it into English, appearing as a serial in the American Heavy Metal magazine from January to April 1984 (volume 4, #10 to Volume 5, #1).

Socially aware and ethically crusading, this is one of the smartest, most beguilingly cynical comics tales to catch the 1970s wave of political awareness and still ranks amongst the very best to explore the social aspects and iniquities of colonialism.

And of course there’s the usual glorious blend of astounding action, imaginative imagery and fantastic creatures to leaven the morality play with space-operatic fun-filled, visually breathtaking and stunningly ingenious wide-eyed wondermentâ€¦

Between 1981 and 1985, Dargaud-Canada and Dargaud-USA published a quartet of these albums in English (with a limited UK imprint from Hodder-Dargaud) under the umbrella title Valerian: Spatiotemporal Agent and this tale was the fourth release, translated then by L. Mitchell.

Although this modern Cinebook release boasts far better print and colour values plus a more fluid translation, total completists might also be interested in tracking down the 20^th century edition too as it boasts a foreword by comics god Will Eisner, full creator biographies and a fascinating, insightful illustrated overview by French science fiction author and editor Daniel Richeâ€¦

June 23, 2014

Savage Wolverine: Wrath

By Phil Jimenez, Scott Lope, Richard J. Isanove & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-605-2

Company kick-start initiative Marvel NOW! having reinvigorated the entire continuity, assorted X-stars began life anew and Savage Wolverine was launched to spotlight tales outside the usual helter-skelter, non-stop progression of Marvel Universe continuity.

This grimly dark and moody collection – gathering issues #12-17 (published between February and June 2014) – captures two of the feral fury’s most brutal sagas in a bloody volume reaffirming the character’s charnel-house underpinnings.

Ever since his early glory days in the All-New, All Different X-Men, the mutant berserker known variously as Wolverine, Logan, Patch and latterly James Howlett has been a character who appealed to the suppressed, put-upon, catharsis-craving comic fan by perpetually promising to cut loose and give bad guys the kind of final punishment we all know they truly deserve.

Always skirting the line between and blurring the definitions of indomitable hero and maniac murderer, Wolverine soldiered on: a tragic, brutal, misunderstood champion cloaked in mysteries and contradictions. Then society changed and, as with ethically-challenged colleague the Punisher, final sanction and quick dispatch became acceptable and even preferred options for costumed crusadersâ€¦

Debuting as a throwaway foe for The Incredible Hulk in a tantalising teaser-glimpse at the end of issue #180 (October 1974) before indulging in a full-on scrap with the Green Goliath in the next issue, the semi-feral Canadian mutant with fearsome claws and killer attitude rode – and maybe even caused – the meteoric rise of the rebooted X-Men before gaining his own series, super-star status and silver screen immortality.

He hasn’t looked back since, although over the years many untold tales of the aged agent (since the miniseries Wolverine:Origins revealed the hero had been born at the end of the 19^th century) have explored his missing exploits in ever-increasing intensity and torturous detail.

Thus Wolverine’s secret origin(s) and increasingly revelatory disclosures regarding his extended, conveniently much-brainwashed life have gradually seeped out. Cursed with recurring and periodic bouts of amnesia and mind-wiped ad nauseum by sinister or even well-meaning friends and foes, the Chaotic Canucklehead has packed loads of adventurous living into his centuries of existence – but until relatively recently hasn’t remembered most of it.

This infinitely unploughed field has conveniently resulted in a crop of dramatically mysterious, undisclosed back-histories, and ‘Come Conquer the Beasts Part 1: Claws and Teeth’ by Phil Jimenez (with additional input from Scott Lope) reveals the undying Wild Rover’s ancient connection with Africa and particularly a tribe of elephants with whom Logan has a semi-mystical relationshipâ€¦

Now that beloved tribe is dying out: another callous casualty of the man-made extinction event caused by Asian and Arabian hunger for ornamental ivory and animal parts for the moronic, misconceived Chinese Medicine tradeâ€¦

On one of his visits Wolverine encounters the stomach-churning results of organised poaching and is compelled by rage and disgust to do something about it. Following the bloody trail back to a staging post in rogue state Madripoor he is shocked to find one of his most trusted human friends neck-deep in the gory, indefensible businessâ€¦

‘Come Conquer the Beasts Part 2: Death in Its Eyes’ further explores the crisis caused by human superstition and greed as Wolverine calls in the X-Men to help stop one pitifully small operation whilst being ultimately helpless to affect the ghastly global ongoing atrocityâ€¦

This is a tale filled with tragedy, hopelessness, small moments of vicarious indulgence and even gallows humour, but the message is what’s really important. Uncompromising, stark, breathtakingly brutal and packed with enough facts to appal any rational, clear-thinking individual, this is comics propaganda of the very best kind: horrifying, impassioned and strident, a true call to arms for all decent people to make self-serving governments act now…

Just as dark but remaining faithfully locked into ferocious fiction, the eponymous 4-part ‘Wrath’ by Richard Isanove takes us back to 1933 to reveal Logan’s own trip down the Road to Perdition, beginning when he was a rum-runner smuggling booze from Canada into Minnesota.

His contact is storekeeper Elias, a fellow survivor of the Great War just trying to keep his four kids safe and well fed in the depths of the Great Depression. Sadly, selling illegal hooch is a dangerous game for independent little guys and, when representatives of the Chicago mob arrive demanding a cut, things very quickly get out of handâ€¦

In the bloody melee, Elias dies and both kids and gangsters discover that Logan is nothing like an ordinary little manâ€¦

With Elias dead Logan is honour-bound to take his kids to their aunt in Sterling, Colorado, but psychotic button men Pierre-Anselme AKA â€œFrenchyâ€ and Sergio (don’t call me â€œMarionâ€) are deadly opponents and despite being maimed by the feral Canuck, manage to escape with pretty Matti – a valuable prospect for the mob’s cathousesâ€¦

Recovering from the assorted Tommy-gun and grenade wounds, Logan drags the kids –Sofia, Peter, and poor consumptive Vicky – in pursuit and soon rescues Matti – but only after another incomprehensible bloodbath.

However Logan makes a critical error in leaving Marion and Frenchy alive and the vengeance-crazed thugs relentlessly follow, using all their Chicago connections to turn the venal and corruptible local law-enforcement officers against the fugitivesâ€¦

Doggedly moving on the party makes friends with â€œOkiesâ€ and other Dust-Bowl economic fugitives but the mobsters are equally determined and remorseless in their pursuit, leaving a trail of bodies and ultimately taking an unimaginable, unforgivable toll on the children, their tragedy-soaked family and the man called Wolverineâ€¦

Short, feisty and indomitable, Logan has always threatened and promised an explosion of visceral, vicarious ultra-violence and grim, gritty justice at every moment and in this slim, savage collection the fact has never been more impressively realised.

With covers-&-variants by Jimenez, Isanove, Chris Samnee, J. G. Jones and John Cassaday, Wrath returns the mutant megastar to realms and milieus largely ignored in recent mainstream appearances, living up to its named promise with brooding, bloody blisteringly bombastic, shocking sagas: a stirring reminder of past glories and uncanny adventures still to be revealedâ€¦
â„¢ & Â© 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

June 22, 2014June 21, 2014

Hellboy in Hell: The Descent

By Mike Mignola with Dave Stewart (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN: 978-1-61655-444-6

Hellboy is a creature of vast depth and innate mystery; an apparently demonic baby summoned to Earth by Nazi occultists at the end of Word War II but subsequently reared by parapsychologist Professor Trevor â€œBroomâ€ Bruttenholm to destroy unnatural threats and supernatural monsters as the lead agent for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

After decades of unfailing, faithful service he became mortally tired and resigned. Itinerantly roaming the world, he still managed to encounter weird happenstances but could never escape trouble or his sense of duty.

After discovering he was the last in a line descended from Arthur Pendragon and Morgana le Fay – and therefore the Rightful King of England – he moved to the old country and died fighting a dragonâ€¦

After launching in 1993 Hellboy was swiftly attributed the status of ‘legend’ in the comics world, starting as the particular vision of a single creator and, by judicious selection of assistants and deputies, cementing a solid hold on the character in the hearts of the public.

And that’s just how it worked for Superman, Batman and Spider-Manâ€¦

Since the initial run of tales many creators have contributed to the arcane canon but at the end of 2012 Mignola assumed complete creative control once more for an ongoing – if irregularly – released series entitled Hellboy in Hell.

This initial compilation of those superb comics yarns gathers the first four-issue story arc and the beguiling notional one-shot The Three Gold Whips, which followed it.

The final fall from grace begins with ‘The Baba Yaga’ as the regal hero plunges into The Pit, willingly followed by an enigmatic robed figure. As the shade tells the ever-watching witch queen Baba Yaga, he believes he still has a chance to rescue and redeem the hell-bound heroâ€¦

Falling through a region of unspeakable horror and colossal monsters, Hellboy is saved from imminent consumption by the cloaked shade who reveals that he has stores of great mystic power and an intimate knowledge of the Nether Realms. He is even effective against furious Eligos, an old enemy of the B.R.P.D. agent who has been waiting a long time to take revenge for his earthly defeat at Hellboy’s mismatched handsâ€¦

The underworld is filled with appalling perils, dark wonders and unfolding vignettes or playlets where sinners endlessly relive the turning points of their lives, but it also holds the answers to the many mysteries of the dead hero’s life. Here a ghost warns him that he will be â€œhaunted by three spiritsâ€â€¦

The journey continues in ‘Pandemonium’ as Hellboy and the shade explore the now abandoned City of Demons, utterly deserted except for the dolorous figure of Satan – Hellboy’s father. They are joined by a devilish guide who provides many answers to the questions that have plagued the hero all his lifeâ€¦ when he was aliveâ€¦

The tempter – his infernal uncle – also offers Hellboy another chance at grasping ultimate power before showing him the tortures being inflicted upon his human witch mother and revealing his own connection and identity in ‘Family Ties’â€¦

The truth about Hellboy’s birth, the mighty magic stone right hand he wears and the fate that befell Hell after he was born is told and the lost boy meets his older brothers Gamon and Lusk, who act as brothers always do when told they aren’t the favourite oneâ€¦

The family squabble escalates and is only ended by an even more terrifying horrorâ€¦

In the aftermath Hellboy converses with a minor imp who tells him Hell is almost empty. All the grand Dukes and Generals and Princes are dead or gone, leaving a mere blue collar kind of devil in situ. It also reveals that someone has murdered Satan in Pandemonium, sparking a wave of unwelcome memories in Hellboyâ€¦

The first travail concludes with ‘Death Riding an Elephant’ as, in the cold and silent abyss, the redemptive revenant returns and at last introduces himself as former Victorian ghostbreaker and psychic detective Sir Edward Grey (the star of another series of Mignola macabre adventures), disclosing a few salient, if unpalatable, facts about Satan’s murder and the truth of his own current unholy situationâ€¦

Mignola is a sublime and canny raconteur and seamlessly combines tales where his star is the full focus of the action and alternately little more than a guide or witness to unfolding events. The latter is very much the case with ‘The Three Gold Whips’ which sees Hellboy wandering the deserted byways of the underworld and encountering an unquiet spirit who relates his own tale of a deal with a devil.

Once upon a time Captain Dulot and two soldierly comrades deserted Napoleon’s army and made a pact with a fiend: Seven years of living life like kings plus a whip each that, when cracked, would create a never-ending supply of gold coins. He even gave them an â€œoutâ€: a means by which they could escape their fate once the seven years were up.

However, when a devil is generous, that’s the time to truly bewareâ€¦

And so now, ever-helpful Hellboy offers to assist the damned foolâ€¦

This superbly absorbing, chilling chronicle also comes with a treasure trove of extras beginning with a graphic faux biography of ‘Walter Edmond Heap’ (a significant figure in the origins of Death Riding an Elphant), an extensive – 19 page – Hellboy Sketchbook section with annotations and commentary by Mignola and a glorious covers-&-variants gallery section.

Hellboy is classic of modern comics creation who has never provided anything but first rate entertainment value for fans. If you’re not one of them yet, this book will certainly change your stubborn mindâ€¦
â„¢ & Â© 2012, 2013, 2014 Mike Mignola.

June 21, 2014June 20, 2014

Revolutionary War

By Alan Cowsill, Andy Lanning, Kieron Gillen, Rob Williams, Glenn Dakin, Richard Elson, Dietrich Smith, Nick Roche, Brent Eric Anderson, Ronan Cliquet de Oliveira, Gary Erskine & Thomas Palmer (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-598-7

Marvel UK set up shop in 1972, reprinting the company’s earliest US successes in the traditional British weekly format, and quickly carved out a solid slice of the market – even though the works of Lee, Kirby, Ditko et al had already been appearing in other British comics (Smash!, Wham!, Pow!, Eagle, Fantastic!, Terrific!) for years.

The characters and stories had also been seen in paperbacks, Christmas Annuals and the ubiquitous anthologies of Alan Class Publications (which re-packaged a mesmerising plethora of American comics from Marvel, Charlton, Tower, Archie/Radio Comics and ACG amongst others in comforting, cheap black and white) as well as in the their original imported form since their inception thanks to the aggressive marketing and licensing policies of Stan and the gang.

In 1976 Marvel decided to augment their output with an original British hero in a new weekly – albeit in that parochial, US style and manner so well-beloved by English comics readers. Yes, that was sarcasmâ€¦

Although the new title included Fantastic Four and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. reprints to fill out the issues, one bold departure was the addition of full colour printing up front for the new hero, and the equivalent back quarter of each issue. Captain Britain Weekly lasted 39 weeks before being absorbed into the far more popular Super-Spiderman titleâ€¦

He later returned in new material in Hulk Weekly – guest-starring in Arthurian fantasy strip the Black Knight. Other original material included British-created Hulk stories based on the TV show, new Nick Fury stories and a stunning period noir crimebuster named Night Ravenâ€¦

In 1979 Marvel UK – still primarily a reprint arm for the American parent company – started to stretch itself. Besides new material generated for Hulk Comic and licensed titles such as Transformers, My Little Pony and Dr Who Weekly/Monthly and many others, the lads and lasses were ready to produce US-style full comic books.

The world was a rapidly changing place in the 1980s and fledgling offshoot Marvel UK was (critically at least) rising high, thanks to an immensely impressive run of original Captain Britain material being created by Dave Thorpe, Alan Davis and Alan Moore.

Yet rather than dive in with full-blown costumed cut-ups like the still commercially disappointing Flag-clad hero, they wisely looked for a premise that would also resonate with established comics tastes. Thus was born The Dragon’s Teeth (which due to an unforgiving Intellectual Rights clash became Dragon’s Claws). On a roll, the company then attempted to expand its line with creator-owned sci-fi detective spoof The Sleeze Brothers and an ongoing title once more combining Arthurian fantasy with tried and true Marvel action.

Or so everybody thoughtâ€¦

Knights of Pendragon prominently featured Captain Britain on the covers but the epic tale which unfolded over the following months was far more a supernatural horror story (in the manner of prophetic TV show â€œDoomwatchâ€) than traditional Fights ‘n’ Tights slugfests – even by the often outrÃ© British standards.

Steeped in ecological hot-button topics, it starred, initially at least, a podgy, over-the-hill Welsh copper who had begun life as an authoritarian gadfly before becoming a solid, stolid comrade to Brian Braddock (Cap’s aristocratic alter ego).

KoP followed Chief Inspector Dai Thomas as he seemingly went off the deep end, plagued by horrific premonitions of grisly massacres all seemingly linked to environmental crimes perpetrated by globe-girdling conglomerate the Omni Corporation. However as the months passed a pattern slowly unfolded that indicated something far older and more dangerous than money was flexing long dormant fangs and sinewsâ€¦

The publishing floodgates opened and from 1992-1994 the British annexe generated a vast number of ongoing titles and miniseries (nearly 40), many with big-name American guest-stars to goose the interest of fans.

Underpinning the entire line was a sinister cabal of undying wizards who were trading stolen souls to the demonic Mephisto in return for continued life and power. As the overweening Mys-Tech Corporation they had been feeding the beast for a thousand years and were now trying to find ways to get out of their Faustian pact without paying the horrific penalty clause which increasingly brought them into conflict with superheroes, assorted villains and dangerous folk a lot harder to pigeonholeâ€¦

For a brief period the UK titles were a meteoric success in the USA, regularly outselling the competition but also – crucially – Marvel’s American output. At the height of a speculator-fed comics boom, the House of Ideas unceremoniously pulled the plug on the British invasion during the fast-approaching climax of the Mys-Tech saga and hunkered down for bad times to come.

Due to poor sales and the junk bond manipulations of Marvel’s new owner Ron Perelman/Andrews Group, Marvel filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection at the end of 1996.

They got out and got betterâ€¦

At the beginning of 2014 the twentieth anniversary of those heady days when the UK’s angelic upstarts outsold their parent company – and everybody else – was celebrated with a semi-reunion and wrapping up exercise in the form of a stylish mini-event. That interlinked tale, as seen in thematic bookends Revolutionary War: Alpha #1 and Omega#1, bracketing the Revolutionary War prefixed one-shots Dark Angel, Knights of Pendragon, Death’s Head II, Supersoldiers, Motor-Mouth and Warheads (all released between January and March), is now available in a single wondrous – and, if you’re a Brit, nostalgia-evoking – tome which combines the best of the old with the thrill of the newâ€¦

Before the unfinished symphony resumes writer/editor Alan Cowsill supplies all the background and narrative colour you could possibly want in ‘Unfinished Business’ after which the heady (re)introductions commence in Revolutionary War: Alpha #1 ‘Tramp The Dirt Down’ by Cowsill, Andy Lanning & Richard Elsonâ€¦

A Crossrail Extension excavation beneath Canary Wharf brings Captain Britain and MI-13 operative Peter Wisdom into conflict with Mys-Tech’s demonic Psycho-Wraiths unearthed during the digging.

The monstrous myrmidons haven’t been seen since the Battle of London Bridge when a motley collection of super-powered individuals became unlikely allies to finally finish off the fiendish world-wrecking cabal. Of course these days nobody – including the mutant superspy – seems able to remember that horrific clash at allâ€¦

Now with this new eldritch eruption Wisdom discovers that the â€œbloody Yanksâ€ of S.H.I.E.L.D. have been keeping secrets – as well as most of the wizards’ confiscated weaponry and artefacts – and are only now sharing the fact that old Mys-Tech bases and enclaves are suddenly waking up all over Britainâ€¦

With unknown forces in motion, Nick Fury and British opposite number Commodore Lance Hunter want Wisdom and the Captain to seek out the survivors of that forgotten Armageddon: especially the turncoat mercenary who betrayed the cabal who employed him to save the world at the cost of all he held dearâ€¦

The years have not been kind to Colonel Liger. It took years of drinking to drown the memories of the moment all his comrades and innocent child super-warrior Killpower were sucked into Hell, sealing a breach to the Inferno with their bodies and souls, and he’s not happy to be picked up, unwillingly detoxed and dumped into the fire again.

The only consolation is that he’s reunited at last with his sentient alien supergun Clementine, but even that dubiously unwholesome reunion is soured when the cabal’s long-dormant global prognosticator the UnEarth Chasm flares into arcane life, predicting doom and destruction for a select band of his fellow long-scattered survivorsâ€¦ and the entire planetâ€¦

Soon after, as Captain Britain rushes to warn one of the depicted endangered paladins, he is treacherously ambushed by another of themâ€¦

The tale continues in Revolutionary War: Dark Angel where Kieron Gillen & Dietrich Smith focus on Shevaun Haldane whose father was once a Mys-Tech mover-&-shaker whose evil she swore to amend and atone for. Now however she is stuck paying off his karmic debt to Mephisto. She is also close friends with Captain Britain and when he is abducted she sets out to save him. Instead she interrupts another Psycho-Wraith incursion which leaves her ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ and stupidly agrees to accept assistance from that selfsame satanic loan shark who doomed her dadâ€¦

The epic revival resumes in Revolutionary War: Knights of Pendragon (Rob Williams & Simon Coleby), where former mystical avatars Dai Thomas and Kate McClellan travel to the Lake District. Their investigation into an Omni Corporation fracking operation uncovers an attempt to mystically taint and suborn the heart of the nationâ€¦

Wisdom meanwhile has joined with Union Jack – another ex-Pendragon knight – and translated to the realm of Avalon only to find the totemic Green Knight overrun by evil growths. They are just in time to witness England’s WWI Superman Albion awaken from a daytime TV-induced stupor and rush them all to Earth where Kate and Dai have unleashed the corrupted, voracious Zombie King Arthur and his Zombie Knights of the Zombie Round Tableâ€¦

With the land imperilled by a corrupted prophecy, the assorted Pendragons are re-empowered to stop them in ‘Swords of a Thousand Men’ but it’s Wisdom’s 21^st century cynicism and nous that really save the dayâ€¦

Marvel UK had very few long-term successes in its decades as a semi-autonomous company, but the time-travelling robotic bounty hunter – sorry, free-lance peace-keeping agent – Death’s Head was certainly one of their most eccentric and long-lasting main contenders.

Starting out as a bit player in Transformers and Dr. Who he graduated to his own short-lived series and a number of guest shots in American titles like Fantastic Four.

In 1991 he was drastically retooled when AIM savant Dr. Evelyn Necker created the Minion warbot. Minion was sent through time and space to kill and absorb more than a hundred of the universe’s greatest killers – including Death’s Head – but after the murder machine succeeded the bounty hunter’s personality took over his killer’s perfect bodyâ€¦

Now in ‘Synchronicity II’ (Lanning, Cowsill & Nick Roche from Revolutionary War: Death’s Head II), the autonomous amalgam is betrayed by Mys-Tech after carrying out a profitable commission for them.

Targeted by an army of Psycho-Wraiths, he is only saved after sidekick Tuck hires the original Death’s Head from the depths of the time-stream to go save himâ€¦

Revolutionary War: Supersoldiers then reveals how the top secret warriors designed to be Britain’s Captain America are handling being put out to pasture. ‘Stop the Cavalry’ (by Williams, Brent Anderson & Tom Palmer) finds Hauer, Guvnor, Dalton and Gog in a small Scottish village watching a biopic of their careers being filmed.

Watching idiots bowdlerise their reputations is so awful they’re almost glad when Wisdom turns up with a warning of real action in store, but when a legion of Psycho-Wraiths begin slaughtering the locals they barely have time to regret their rash dream of one last glorious battleâ€¦

The emotional core of the saga comes in Revolutionary War: Motormouth (by Glen Dakin & Ronan Cliquet de Oliveira) which reveals how reality and two kids caught up with the most free-spirited and anarchic of the old anti Mys-Tech brigade.

Although Harley Davis is stuck in poverty on a council estate and crushed by guilt over the fate of simpleminded partner Killpower, she is not beyond the reach of the rampant Psycho-Wraiths.

Unfortunately for them, though, she kept some of the tools and weapons picked up from every corner of time and space and still has a few friends who are a bit handy with their fists (knives, guns, baseball bats, ray blasters etc etc)â€¦

Liger stars in Revolutionary War: Warheads (Lanning, Cowsill & Gary Erskine) as the true story of that last battle emerges and Dai Thomas gets an inkling that not all the bad guys are on Mys-Tech’s side. Even though a traitor is exposed and the true scheme revealed, it’s too late and the entire Earth is overrun by demonic horrors.

As every superhero everywhere engages in a furious holding action, the tattered remnants of the British brigade of champions unites to battle one of their own and all the hordes of Hell in Revolutionary War: Omega#1 (Lanning, Cowsill & Elson) in a burning place where there are ‘No More Heroes’â€¦

This engaging epistle also includes a host of covers-&-variants by Mark Brooks, Barry Kitson, Salvador Larroca, Neil Edwards, Liam Sharp, Dave Gibbons, Declan Shalvey, Erskine and Jamie McKelvie, a ‘Behind the Scenes’ glimpse at the original series proposal, page after page of original art, pencils, roughs, character designs and sketches plus incisive afterthoughts from Dakin and Gillen in ‘The Final Word’.

Grim, explosively action-packed, slyly sardonic and deliciously satirically tongue-in-cheek, Revolutionary War is a delight for old-timers that will spark a lot of interest from neophyte readers in search of a different take on Fights ‘n’ Tights adventure.
â„¢ & Â© 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

June 20, 2014

Superman Chronicles volume 9

By Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, John Sikela, Leo Nowak, Ed Dobrotka & Fred Ray (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3122-4

I sometimes think – like many others I know – that superhero comics were never more apt or effective than when they were whole-heartedly combating global fascism with explosive, improbable excitement courtesy of a myriad of mysterious, masked marvel men.

All the most evocatively visceral moments of the genre seem to come when gaudy gladiators soundly thrashed – and I hope you’ll please forgive the offensive contemporary colloquialism – â€œNips and Nazisâ€.Â However, even in those long-ago dark days, comics creators were wise enough to offset their tales of espionage and imminent invasion with a barrage of home-grown threats and gentler or even more whimsical four-colour fareâ€¦

This ninth astounding Superman compendium – collecting #16-17 of his solo title, his adventures from flagship anthology Action Comics #48-52 and an episode from World’s Finest Comics #6 (encompassing May to September 1942) – sees the World’s Premier Superhero predominant at the height of those war years: an indomitable Man of Tomorrow who was always a thrilling, vibrant, vital role-model and whose sensational exploits spawned a host of imitators, a genre and an industry.

Behind the stunning covers by Fred Ray – depicting Superman trouncing scurrilous Axis War-mongers and reminding readers what we were all fighting for – scripter Jerry Siegel was producing some of the best stories of his career, showing the Action Ace in all his morale-boosting glory; thrashing thugs, spies and masters of bad science whilst America kicked the Axis fascists in the pantsâ€¦

Co-creator Joe Shuster, although plagued by punishing deadlines for the Superman newspaper strip and his rapidly failing eyesight, was still fully involved in the process, overseeing the stories and drawing character faces whenever possible, but as the months passed the talent pool of the â€œSuperman Studioâ€ increasingly took the lead in the comicbooks as the demands of the media superstar grew and grew.

Thus most of the stories in this volume were drawn by John Sikela with occasional support from othersâ€¦

The magic begins with ‘The Merchant of Murder!’ from Action Comics #48 which saw the hero toppling an insidious gang of killers led by The Top who used wartime restrictions to sell used cars with deadly faults and defects until reporter Lois Lane – and her titanic leg-man – got involvedâ€¦

Sikela also flew solo on all of Superman #16, beginning with ‘The World’s Meanest Man’ as the Caped Kryptonian crushed a mobster attempting to plunder a social program to give deprived slum-kids a holiday in the countryside, before moving on to battle an astrologer prepared to murder his clients to prove his predictions in ‘Terror from the Stars’.

‘The Case of the Runaway Skyscrapers’ pitted the Metropolis Marvel against Mister Sinister, a trans-dimensional tyrant who could make buildings vanish, after which the power-packed perilous periodical concluded with a deeply satisfying and classic campaign against organised crime as Superman crushed the ‘Racket on Delivery’.

Action Comics #49 then introduced The Puzzler;a despicable, deadly and obsessive criminal maniac who was hated losing and never played fair in ‘The Wizard of Chance’ (inked by Ed Dobrotka).

The debut of Superman had propelled National Comics to the forefront of their fledgling industry and in 1939 the company collaborated with the organisers of the New York World’s Fair: producing a commemorative comicbook celebrating the opening. The Man of Tomorrow prominently featured on the appropriately titled New York World’s Fair Comics beside such four-colour stars as Zatara, Gingersnap and The Sandman.

He starred again a year later in the second issue with the newly launched Batman and Robin team in another epochal mass-market premium – Worlds Fair 1940. The spectacular card-cover 96 page anthologies were a huge hit and convinced National’s owner and editors that such an over-sized package of their pantheon of characters, with Superman and Batman prominently featured, would be a worthwhile proposition.

The bountiful format was retained for a wholly company-owned quarterly which retailed for the then-hefty price of 15Â¢. Launching as World’s Best Comics #1 (Spring 1941), the book transformed into World’s Finest Comics from #2, beginning a stellar 45 year run which only ended as part of the massive decluttering exercise that was Crisis on Infinite Earths.

From issue #6 (Summer 1942) ‘The Man of Steel vs. the Man of Metal’ by Siegel, Leo Nowak & Sikela pits our hero and newsboy Jimmy Olsen against Metalo, a mad scientist whose discoveries made him every inch Superman’s physical matchâ€¦

Back in Action Comics #50, Clark Kent and Lois were despatched to Florida to scope out sporting skulduggery in ‘Play Ball!’ a light-hearted baseball tale illustrated by Nowak & Ed Dobrotka.

Superman #17 asked ‘Man or Superman?’ (illustrated by Shuster & Sikela), wherein Loisfirst began to put snippets of evidence together, at last sensing that klutzy Clark Kent might be hiding a Super-secret even as the subject of her researches tangled with sinister saboteur The Talon. Following that, ‘The Human Bomb’ (art by Nowak) saw a criminal hypnotist turn innocent citizens into walking landmines until the tireless Action Ace scotched his wicked racket.

Sikela handled the last two tales in the issue beginning with ‘Muscles for Sale!’ in which Superman’s Fortress of Solitude and Trophy Room debuted and the Man of Steel battled another mad mesmerist who turned ordinary men into dangerously overconfident louts, bullies and thieves, whilst ‘When Titans Clash!‘ offered a frantic and spectacular duel of wits and incredible super-strength when Luthor regained the mystic Power Stone and became Superman’s physical – but never intellectual – master â€¦

Action Comics #51 then introduced the canny faux-madness of practical-joking homicidal bandit The Prankster in the rollercoaster romp ‘The Case of the Crimeless Crimes’ and this cavalcade of comics creativity and glorious indulgence concludes with the ‘The Emperor of America!’ from Action Comics #52, wherein an invading army were welcomed with open arms by all Americans except the indignantly suspicious Man of Steel who single-handedly liberated the nation in a blistering, rousing call-to-arms classicâ€¦

As the war progressed the raw passion and sly wit of Siegel’s stories and the rip-roaring energy of Shuster and his team were galvanised by the parlous state of the planet and Superman simply became better and more flamboyant to deal with it all.

His startling abilities and take-charge, can-do attitude won the hearts of the public at home and he was embraced as a patriotic tonic for the troops across the war-torn world.

The rise was meteoric, inexorable and unprecedented. He was the indisputable star of Action, World’s Finest Comics and his own dedicated title whilst a daily newspaper strip (begun on 16^th January 1939, with a separate Sunday strip following from 5^th November of that year) garnered millions of new fans.

A thrice-weekly radio serial had been running since February 12^th 1940 and, with a movie cartoon series, games, toys, apparel and a growing international media presence, Superman was swiftly becoming the entire Earth’s heroâ€¦

Although the gaudy burlesque of evil aliens, marauding monsters and slick super-villains still lay years ahead of our hero, these captivating tales of villainy, criminality, corruption and disaster are just as engrossing and speak powerfully of the tenor of the times, and are all dealt with in a direct and captivating manner by our relentlessly entertaining champion in summarily swift and decisive fashion.

No â€œTo Be Continuedsâ€ here!

As fresh, thrilling and compelling now as they ever were, these endlessly re-readable epics are perfectly presented in these glorious paperback collections where the graphic magic defined what being a Super Hero means and concocted the basic iconography of the genre for all others to follow.

Such Golden Age tales are priceless enjoyment at an absurdly affordable price and in a durable, comfortingly approachable format. What dedicated comics fan could possibly resist them?
Â© 1942, 2011 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

June 19, 2014July 6, 2014

Amazing X-Men: The Quest for Nightcrawler

By Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Cameron Stuart & Dexter Vines (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-591-8

Amidst all the constant existential angst and apocalyptic StÃ¼rm und Drang of the average X-Men saga over the years, there was still the occasional moment of lighter-hearted, boldly dashing, fun-filled exuberant derring-do – and it generally gravitated towards or sprang from the general vicinity of German swashbuckler Kurt Wagner: Nightcrawler.

However even he eventually succumbed to the bleak tone of the times and, after increasingly dark dire deeds, he died in the X-Event Second Coming.

Now after the team’s dalliances with doppelgangers and alternate Earth iterations, the original and genuine article has returned for the first story-arc of new ongoing title Amazing X-Men. Collecting the first six issues (cover-dated January-May 2014), this metaphysical merry-go-round of magic and mutant mayhem by Jason Aaron & Ed McGuiness (aided and abetted by Cameron Stewart and Dexter Vines) opens in Heaven, where the devout, deceased Christian mutant is strangely listless and ill-at-ease.

He perks up, however, when a quartet of demon pirates invade the Promised Land looking for souls to shanghai, and gives the invaders the sound thrashing they so richly deserve. The situation suddenly becomes seriously serious when his father appears.

Demon mutant Azazel had maintained his connection to Earth for millennia by mating with human women, but Kurt had always been the most disappointing of his progeny. Now the moribund mutant realises he would do anything to thwart his sinister sire’s schemes – including foregoing forever his hard-earned eternal restâ€¦

On Earth The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning is â€œwelcomingâ€ its newest teacher. Angelica Jones (AKA Firestar) is already nervous about her job and terrified to be in the â€œBig Leaguesâ€ amongst the X-Men, but her first day too soon takes a giant step into pure weirdness when the Beast blazes by her, chasing teleporting imps – known as â€œBamfsâ€ – who have been stealing his technology. Now, by purloining his coffeemaker, they have finally gone too farâ€¦

Caught up in the chase, she is astonished to discover the little blue packrats have constructed a bizarre glowing portal in the basement. When Iceman, Angel, Northstar, Rachel Grey, Wolverine and Storm join her, the Beast and the Bamfs, they are all attacked by malicious red Bamfs and sucked through the gateway into the afterlife where Azazel is attempting to conquer the eternal realms in flying pirate galleonsâ€¦

The journey has divided the team. Transported to the golden fields of Elysium, Wolverine and Northstar are soon boldly battling Azazel’s demonic buccaneers but Storm, Iceman and Firestar are having the devil’s own time surviving the very Pit of Hell they have materialised inâ€¦

The war in heaven is starting to go badly until the sprit of Charles Xavier turns up to offer some sage advice, sending Wolverine plunging from Paradise to find and save Nightcrawler, who is set on stopping his devilish daddy at any costâ€¦

The Beast has meanwhile landed on Azazel’s flagship, far beyond the Realm of the Flesh, and found himself severely overmatched against the hellish hordes aboard. He looks to be doomed, as is Storm who has â€œescapedâ€ onto another of the perfidious black freighters, but when the situation is at its most dire, in a crack of brimstone sound and fury, Nightcrawler arrives, sword swingingâ€¦

With Wolverine and Northstar now trapped in a frozen perdition whilst Firestar and Iceman languish in the Inferno, Kurt leads the missions to rescue them all and, whilst revealing the incredible truth about the perpetually proliferating Bamfs, finally takes the fight to his fiendish father.

The struggle takes everybody back to Earth but, by defeating the demon-lord and manifesting once more on the physical plane, has Nightcrawler forever lost his place in Heaven and locked the lethal, lascivious Lord of Lies in the land of the living?

Peppered with telling and trenchant flashbacks showing why Wagner was so beloved by his fellow X-Men, the dauntless drama concludes with ‘All in the Family’ (illustrated by Cameron Stewart) which sees the majority of the surviving X-Men – now split into warring ideological camps – turn up at Kurt’s Welcome Home party to pay their respects.

The only one missing is Nightcrawler himself, occupied as he is with confronting his malign mother (evil mutant Mystique) and subsequently spectacularly failing to prevent her breaking recently incarcerated Daddy Dearest out of super-villain jailâ€¦

This bright and breezy tale of light-hearted triumph and tragedy comes with a legion of covers-&-variants (15 actually) by McGuinness & Vines, Milo Manara, Moore, Kevin Nowlan, Dale Keown, Skottie Young and Salvador Larroca, and is one of the most enjoyable X-epics of recent years: a boundless buccaneering romp trading angst for boundless action and nihilistic gloom for thrills and frolics.

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

Indestructible Hulk volume 4: Humanity Bomb

By Mark Waid, Mahmud Asrar, Clayton Mann & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-620-5

Once upon a time, Bruce Banner was merely a military scientist accidentally caught in a Gamma-bomb blast of his own devising. As a result, any undue stress could cause him to transform into a gigantic green monster of unimaginable strength and fury.

As both occasional hero and bombastic brute he rampaged across the landscape for decades, becoming one of comics’ most popular characters and most enduring multi-media titans.

Over the years he has undergone numerous radical changes in scope, character and format to keep his stories fresh and his exploits explosively compelling whilst the number of Gamma-galvanised grotesqueries crashing about the Marvel Universe has proliferated to inconceivable proportions.

The days of Bruce going green with anger at the drop of a hat are long gone, so anybody taking their cues from TV or movie incarnations would be wise to anticipate a smidgen of unavoidable confusionâ€¦

In a world of numerous Hulks, She-Hulks, Abominations and every kind of ancillary colour-swatched atomic berserker, the MarvelNOW! event saw the Jade Giant reinvented in a stripped-down, back-to-basics but startlingly original manner which energised new and old fans alike.

The big change in his fortunes occurred after S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill was persuaded to provide perennial fugitive Banner with resources and funding in order to sanitise his devastated scientific reputation. In return Hill could call on the Hulk as a living weapon of last resortâ€¦

One of the smartest men on Earth, Banner had lost years of success, progress and peer renown whilst trying to cure himself of the Hulk. Concerned about his legacy, the fugitive genius had at last decided to make his future headlines as a scientist, not a shattering force of nature – for as long as he could possible manage – rather than fruitlessly seek to cure his affliction. Additionally, in return for S.H.I.E.L.D. science labs and trained assistants, the beleaguered boffin would give the spy agency first use of his discoveries and inventionsâ€¦

This volume details the final days of this cataclysmic chapter in the ever-eventful life of Dr. Banner and his angry green alter ego (collecting Indestructible Hulk #16, 17.INH, 18.INH, 19.INH, 20 and Indestructible Hulk Annual #1, spanning January-March 2014) with scripter Mark Waid going out on a unforgettable high.

These days comics are all about the next Big Publishing Event and this latest Hulk collection capitalises on the tide of Inhumanity to bring this particular iteration to a spectacular climax â€¦

During earlier mega-blockbuster Infinity, mad Titan Thanos invaded Earth and battled the Inhumans’ ruler Black Bolt to a standstill. As a last resort the embattled king released the Hidden People’s mutagenic Terrigen Mist into the atmosphere where it triggered mutation in millions, proving that human and Inhuman were not necessarily different racesâ€¦

After being marooned in mystical ice-hell Jotunheim and then having to outwit Zarrko the Tomorrow Man and repair the fracturing time-stream, Banner and his team are way behind the greenly envious genius’ schedule to prove himself smarter than Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Hank Pym and all the other assorted big-brains who have outshone and pitied him over the years of his afflictionâ€¦

Thus in ‘Humanity Bomb: Prelude’ (by Waid & Mahmud Asrar)Banner is prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to get back on track. After blackmailing the Military-Industrial complex for â€œblack bagâ€ funds, the inventor goes on a spree of tinkering only to be beaten to the patent office post over and over again by his oblivious intellectual rivals.

With his temper fraying, only calm, cool assistant Randall Jessup seems able to keep him from â€œHulking Outâ€, so it’s with some relief that Banner hears of a rushed – and highly suspect – S.H.I.E.L.D. mission to an ancient Meso-American pyramid in Mexico where he can exorcise some pent-up frustrationâ€¦

They only want Renewable Energy expert Jessup on-site, but Banner is not a man to take â€œnoâ€ for an answer anymore – which is lucky considering the original purpose of the monolith and the things waiting insideâ€¦

Indestructible Hulk Annual #1 then offers a look into Banner’s – and Tony Stark’s – boyhood via a ‘Journey into Science’ (Jeff Parker & Asrar) as Dr. Derenik Zadian – the charismatic but mercenary scientific genius who taught and then advised the two prodigies to go into weapons research – returns as a threat to the entire world. Iron Man and the Hulk must reluctantly invade the monster-stuffed island their renegade mentor is now literally part-and-parcel ofâ€¦

‘Humanity Bomb’ (by Waid, Clay Mann, Seth Mann, Miguel Sepulveda, Jheremy Raapack, Tom Grummett, Joe Bennett, Karl Kesel, Ruy JosÃ©, Andrew Hennessy & Scott Hanna) then opens as Stark and Pym meddle with Banner’s proposed solution for the still-propagating clouds of airborne Terrigen Mistâ€¦

Already under relentless, self-induced pressure to succeed, the unwelcome intervention stresses Banner, but not as much as the S.H.I.E.L.D. edict that his entire research team are to be held in â€œlock-downâ€ since one of them has tested positive for the genes that react to Terrigen exposureâ€¦

Thus, when Iron Man, Giant-Man and The Beast arrive, insultingly demanding to check his work before proceeding, Banner goes ballistic. To be fair though, his quick fix is a bomb and everybody is painfully aware of how well his last radical radioactive explosive device turned outâ€¦

When the physicist goes green and crazy the assembled Avengers are unable to stop him stealing the bomb and escaping into the unsuspecting worldâ€¦

The resulting chase and cataclysmic clash causes the bomb to detonate over Tulsa, Oklahoma with horrific and astounding results. In the aftermath the now pacified physicist’s solution is deconstructed and the reason for its failure to end the spread of â€œTerrigenesisâ€ determined.

Banner is blithely unaware that his team have broken out of custody and flown after him. They are unaware that the cure hasn’t worked – until one of them suddenly turns into a monster that feeds on rageâ€¦

Inevitably the fresh new travesty of nature clashes spectacularly with the Hulk but, even after a seeming solution reverses the Terrigen transformation, the danger is not over. Elsewhere, maverick scientist Ted Goodrich has rebuilt and reactivated the rogue think tank dubbed The Enclave (which numbered growing the first artificial godling Him/Adam Warlock amongst its numerous wonders and breakthroughs) and has targeted Banner’s recently reverted aideâ€¦

That bombastic battle apparently goes the Good Guys’ way but after reporting back to Maria Hill one more shock and another impossible tragedy awaits the understandably at-the-end-of-his tether Bruce Bannerâ€¦

Sporting a stack of AR icons (Marvel’s Augmented Reality App featuring printed portals to online story bonuses and extras for everyone who downloaded the free software from marvel.com onto a smart-phone or Android-enabled tablet) and a stunning cover gallery by Asrar & Dave McCaig, this sharp, action-packed and astonishingly compelling read offers a fun-filled, fury-fuelled shocking end to the epic which brilliantly mixes incredible adventure with clever characterisation and an addictive excess of furious Fights ‘n’ Tights action that no comics fan could possibly resist.

June 17, 2014June 18, 2014

Violent Cases Hardcover

By Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean (Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-78329-360-5

Do you rememberâ€¦?

Since its first release in 1987 Violent Cases has gone back into print many times, but regrettably remains a comics connoisseur’s secret. Now Titan Books have released a big, bold, lush and lavish commemorative oversized full-colour hardback (302 x 235mm), complete with extras culled from previous editions and new art material, in another sincere and sterling effort to give this tale the audience and acclaim it deserves.

There’s actually very little I feel happy saying about this enigmatic and compelling little teaser other than the basic facts. Too much detail or analysis will spoil the magic if you’ve never seen it – and if you have it’s probably not what you recall it beingâ€¦

Initially published by the sorely missed publisher Escape – in association with Titan Books – in 1987, it marks the first collaboration of two then largely unknown creators who shared a more literary aspiration for comics than traditional newcomers to the craft, married to a novel approach and impassioned – if raw and hungry – storytelling talent.

It’s short, sweet, disturbing, utterly absorbing and probably impossible to translate into any other mediumâ€¦ and that is, of course, a Very Good Thing.

There’s this guy see, and he’s idly reminiscing about his childhood in the 1960sâ€¦

Years ago in Portsmouth a little lad hurt his arm rather badly whilst exchanging words about bedtime with his father. To fix the problem daddy took the 4-year old to see an osteopath. The elderly gentleman was an interesting fellow with an odd accent who told great yarns and mentioned that he had once treated somebody famousâ€¦

As the narrator tries to sort out the half-forgotten details – fragments of life and films and games congealed now with clearly conflated circumstances – the facts, fictions and shadily obscured and occulted misunderstandings concerning his perhaps difficult childhood, growing maturity and awareness and those hours with Al Capone’s bone-bender begin to emerge and coalesceâ€¦ or do they?

Flickering back and forth, the narrative proffers a miasma of mixed memories and misapprehensions involving a memorably troubled old man, Mysterious Men in Dark Suits, a party, a scary magician, unexplained appearances and subsequent disappearances, unforgettable physical discomfort as a young arm was coaxed back into correctitude, tales of tailors and gangsters and Tommy Gunsâ€¦ which were always carried in Violent Casesâ€¦

Most of all it deals with unresolvable mysteries – because even the things we recall, we don’t always rememberâ€¦

This entire book is all about stories, memories, perception, mis-perception and self-deception, painted by Dave McKean in a muted but cleverly targeted tonal colour-palette of blues, greys and browns, with splashes of electric vibrancy where appropriate (all reduced to straight monochrome for the very first edition, restored for those subsequent releases, and remastered here)â€¦

This volume also includes Introductions by Paul Gravett, Alan Moore and the story’s author Neil Gaiman (from the 1997, 1987 and 1991 editions) as well as his Afterword from 2003, plus assorted covers and other art works by McKean and an illustrated Biographies section which is a marvel and joy to beholdâ€¦

Despite being one of the key books in the 1980s’ war to prove that comics were an art form and valid mode of mature creative expression, Violent Cases remains a largely unknown artefact, seldom cropping up in the same discussions as contemporaries like A Contract With God, Maus, Watchmen, Love and Rockets, The Dark Knight Returns and V for Vendetta, let alone later acclaimed breakthroughs such as Ghost World, Black Hole, From Hell, Persepolis or even Sandman.

It is also an unforgettable pictorial memento mori – or is that topica tragoedia? – which beguiles and enchants, tests and subtly distresses in ways no lover of the comics medium could possibly resist.

If you haven’t read it, you must. If you have, read it again – it’s not at all what you rememberâ€¦

June 16, 2014June 18, 2014

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: 30th Anniversary Edition

By Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck, Bob Layton, John Beatty & various (Marvel/Panini UK)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-589-5

Has it been thirty years? Cripes!: stir the Horlicks and break out the Zimmer framesâ€¦

The â€œmaxi-seriesâ€ which started the seemingly insatiable modern passion for vast, braided mega-crossover publishing events originally came about because of an impending action figures licensing deal with toy manufacturing monolith Mattel.

Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter, a great advocate of tales accessible to new, younger readers as well as the dedicated fan-base, apparently concocted the rather simplistic but amazingly engaging saga starring the House of Ideas’ top characters as a result of urgings from a potential major licensor. He then built his tale around a torrent of unsolicited, inspirational mail from readers, all begging for one huge dust-up between all the heroes and villainsâ€¦

The 12-issue Limited Series launched with a May 1984 cover-date and closed (April 1985) with a double-sized blockbusting battle that left many characters changed forever – or as least as â€œForeverâ€ as comics getâ€¦

The premise of the secret saga was that an all-powerful force calling itself The Beyonder abducted an army of Earth heroes and villains – and the most dreaded destroyer in the universe – in its quest to understand the emotion of desireâ€¦

The enigmatic, almighty entity dumped them all on a colossal purpose-built Battleworld created from and populated with fragments of other planets as a vast arena in which to prove which was better â€“ self-gratification or sacrificeâ€¦

In his introductory reminiscence ‘The War to End All Wars’, Shooter recounts the concatenation of circumstances which led to the creation of the series, after which an tantalising page clipped from the Daily Bugle outlines the mounting mystery of a seemingly unconnected legion of missing heroes before the furious Fights ‘n’ Tights epic opensâ€¦

As crafted by Shooter, Mike Zeck & John Beatty, ‘The War Begins’ found the Avengers, X-Men and Fantastic Four, Magneto, the Hulk and utterly out-of-his-depth Spider-Man all teleported into the deep unknown to see a galaxy destroyed and a world constructed before their astounded eyes. This was achieved purely so that a cosmic force could determine which of two philosophies was correct.

Arrayed against them were Doctor Doom, Molecule Man, Ultron, Dr. Octopus, the Lizard, the Enchantress, Absorbing Man, Kang the Conqueror, the Wrecking Crew and Galactus, all of whom had no problem with a disembodied voice telling them â€œslay your enemies and all you desire shall be yoursâ€â€¦

Whilst the villains instantly turn on each other, the Devourer of Worlds doesn’t care for the offer and attacks the disembodied force, only to be smashed casually and unceremoniously onto the brand new world below. The heroes too touch ground but dissent starts to split them into suspicious factions. The mere presence of mutant supremacist Magneto on their â€œteamâ€ divides the champions along human and mutant linesâ€¦

Elsewhere Doctor Doom tries to explain the underlying threat to his fellow villains in the huge super-scientific citadel they have commandeered, but the rogues refuse to listen.

Exasperated, the Monarch of Latveria decides to swallow his pride and consult with despised rival Mr. Fantastic but is blasted out of the skies by his greedy, treacherous companions before he finds the heroes’ camp. The bushwhackers then rashly go on to attack the gathered Good Guysâ€¦ and The War beginsâ€¦

‘Prisoners of War!’ sees the first of many pitched battles, but as the cataclysmic conflict proceeds, elsewhere Doom, having survived the sneak attack, is on site to see Galactus revive and ominously repair to a mountain top to begin his own unique responseâ€¦

Leaving the cosmic glutton to his own devices, the Iron Tyrant returns to the fortress of evil; dubbing it Doombase as he reprograms the dormant AI Ultron to be his slave.

He is waiting when the thoroughly trounced malefactors limp home, having lost the Lizard, Enchantress, Kang and Thunderball, Bulldozer and Piledriver of the Wrecking Crew to the heroes.

The triumphant yet troubled victors have occupied their own city-sized futuristic castle-complex where, after imprisoning their captives, they soon return to bickering with each other. The suspicions of some human heroes quickly drives Magneto away – taking the Wasp as a hostage – but even as the remaining mutants begin to feel the weight of prejudice, bigger problems manifest.

As the rocky Thing unexpectedly reverts to merely mortal Ben Grimm, on his distant mountain top Galactus is preparing to consume Battleworldâ€¦

The suspense builds in ‘Tempest Without, Crisis Within!’

As the master of magnetism discusses a truce with the Wasp, in the hero citadel Spider-Man misconstrues an overheard conversation and accidentally sparks a schism between human and mutants.

Whilst the webslinger and Hulk remain with Reed Richards, The Thing, Human Torch, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man (unknown to all Jim Rhodes not Tony Stark), Hawkeye, Captain Marvel and She-Hulk, the much-aggrieved X-Men Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Wolverine and diminutive space-dragon Lockheed follow increasingly doctrinaire Charles Xavier’s demands to separate from the assemblage and join Magnetoâ€¦

Doom meanwhile has used his fortress’ alien technology to turn two mysteriously-arrived earth girls into super-powered allies. When his remaining forces attack the heroes at dawn, the power of Volcana and Titania tips the balance against the defenders, deprived as they are of the might of the now-missing mutantsâ€¦

Thor too is gone. Having journeyed with the captive Enchantress to a pocket dimension – hoping to persuade her to switch sides – he returns too late to stop the felons freeing their comrades and crippling the Torch and Captain Marvelâ€¦

Bob Layton stepped in to pencil the next two chapters, beginning with ‘Situation: Hopeless!’ wherein the resurgent rogues move to end the war by having Molecule Man drop an entire mountain range on the already-reeling heroes. Trapped under 50 billion tons of rock – only barely held up by the Atlas-like Hulk – the heroes are rallied to hold on by Captain America whilst Reed and Iron Man devise a technological solution to their dilemma.

Outside, Thor’s unexpected return almost overwhelms the exultant evildoers, but he too is eventually destroyedâ€¦

As the dust settles, Doom kills the newly liberated Kang (for shooting him down as he flew to confer with Richards), blithely unaware that Thor has survived and escaped to rescue his buried comradesâ€¦

In another quadrant, as the X-Men arrive at Magneto’s bastion – giving the Wasp a chance to escape – the recently disinterred heroes find an alien village in the shadow of Galactus’ peak where a comely healer named Zsaji uses her empathic abilities to heal the battered, wounded warriors from Earthâ€¦

However even as Ben unpredictably becomes the Thing again, Galactus makes his next moveâ€¦

Above the skies of Battleworld, the Devourer’s solar system sized starship materialises, signalling ‘The Battle of Four Armies!’ At Doombase meek, socially inept Molecule Man Owen Reece is starting to blossom under the romantic attentions of Marsha Rosenberg AKA Volcana and, after being teased and bullied by the Wrecking Crew, smashes them all and flies off to be alone with her.

Whilst Magneto and Xavier attempt to communicate with the disdainfully oblivious Galactus, the X-Men speed to assist the human heroes against an outlaw assault on Zsaji’s village. In the melee Colossus is gravely injured and only saved by the healer’s intervention.

For him it is true love at first sightâ€¦

Oblivious to the conflict Doom, meanwhile, has again accomplished the impossible and invaded Galactus’ shipâ€¦

Zeck returned for ‘A Little Deathâ€¦’ in which the Wasp, frantically making her way back to her friends, encounters and befriends the savage, confused Lizard.

Thousand of miles above her, Doom’s explorations have led him to find and restore sonic scourge Klaw. The malign, sentient sound wave had been trapped in the system-ship for months but although reconstituted in a solid-vibrational body construct, the Master of Sound is completely crazyâ€¦.

Xavier’s confrontational leadership style is causing contention amongst his students and Colossus is having his heart broken every time he sees Zsaji fawn and simper over the shallow, lustful – human – Torchâ€¦

As Captain America and the big brains strategise ways to stop Galactus, Cyclops, Wolverine and Rogue unexpectedly rout a pack of bad guys on a mission for Doom which leaves the nigh-omnipotent Molecule bleeding out. Elsewhere, however, the fates are less kind when the Wasp, still cosying up to the Lizard, is ambushed and murdered by the Wrecking Crew.

The primordial predator is unable to save her, but his vengeance is terrible to beholdâ€¦

And back at the Healer’s village a new player is about to enter the frayâ€¦

‘Berserker!’ introduces a new Spider-Woman and reveals where Titania and Volcana came from. Whilst assembling his war world The Beyonder appropriated segments of many other planets, including an entire suburb of Denver, Colorado from Earthâ€¦

Before the enigmatic arachnid can explain further the Wreckers blaze in to dump the Wasp’s corpse and gloat, but the Star Spangled Avenger refuses to let his enraged comrades pursue the killers. He needs everyone to stay ready for the moment when Galactus starts to eat the planet and the billions of kidnapped innocents unhappily inhabiting itâ€¦

As the villains retreat with the wounded Molecule Man they are ambushed by the rest of the X-Men and Magneto, resulting in another savage yet inconclusive battle, whilst high above them all Doom continues to plunder Galactus’ home. When the World Eater finally notices him, the Master of Latveria is casually expelled and sent crashing like a bug to the planet below â€¦

Back at Doombase She-Hulk, filled with righteous rage and ignoring Cap’s orders, attacks the amassed murderers alone. After a ferocious fight she eventually succumbs to their greater force and ruthless brutalityâ€¦

So when Xavier informs the heroes that his mutants will stand guard over Galactus, the Sentinel of Liberty at last lets his enraged comrades loose to take on the killers and live up to the name â€œAvengersâ€â€¦

She-Hulk is near death when ‘Invasion!’ (inked by Beatty & Jack Abel) opens, as the champions of justice thrash their enemies with great enthusiasm, especially the enigmatic new Spider-Woman. In the course of the spectacular melee, Spider-Man single-handedly beats the impossibly strong Titania and his costume is destroyed.

As they imprison the crushed criminals, Captain America finds Doom, slumped in defeat and despair. Whilst the triumphant heroes use matter-shaping machines to repair their clothing and uniforms, the Wall-crawler accidentally uses a different device and receives a new all-black costume similar to Spider-Woman’sâ€¦

His, however, can change shape, colour and design, is thought-activated and somehow produces an inexhaustible supply of webbing. In the days to come on Earth he will learn to deeply regret his errorâ€¦

Back in the village Zsaji has pulled out all the stops and resurrected the seemingly dead Wasp, but any joy the victors might feel is instantly erased as Professor X broadcasts a desperate telepathic alarm: Galactus is at last beginning to consume the planetâ€¦

As the X-Men begin their ‘Assault on Galactus!’ the human heroes rush back to assist them, but Reed Richards – the greatest intellect on Earth – suddenly has a flash of insight and vanishes as the Devourer teleports him to a private conference.

At that moment Doom rouses himself from his despondent funk, having conceived a grand plan of his own to conquer both Galactus and The Beyonder, erasing forever the humiliation of his ignominious defeatâ€¦

Due in part to his discussion with Reed, the Cosmic Carnivore abandons Battleworld and instead absorbs his own system-shipâ€¦

In the confusion Doom makes his move, using a hastily constructed device to absorb all the omnipotent instigator’s power and deal out ‘Death to the Beyonder!’

Despite being all but incinerated in the struggle, the Iron Tyrant uses the stolen energies to rebuild himself and declare the Secret War over with Doom the sole victorâ€¦

In ‘â€¦And Dust to Dust!’, having successfully stolen the Beyonder’s power, he exults in the joys of becoming omnipotent. However the troubled new god finds it hard to hang on to lust for conquest, or even personal ambition after achieving all-consuming divinity, and his benign acts and vapid indolence betray a certain lack of drive and ambitionâ€¦

With heroes and villains nervously awaiting the new supreme one’s next move, events take a subtly disturbing turn as a strange energy wisp begins to possess a succession of heroes as it makes its way ever closer to the Doom Deityâ€¦

The other do-gooders remain deep in conference, debating their response to the self-proclaimed saviour of the universe. At the moment they finally decide to oppose him they are all vaporised by a bolt of energyâ€¦

Of course it doesn’t end there as the resurgent Beyonder battles through heroic and villainous proxies to reclaim his purloined power and put everything to rights – sort of – in the blockbusting finale ‘â€¦Nothing to Fear!’

Although perhaps a little dated and rather straightforward – although peppered with plenty of convoluted and clever plot twists – this bombastic box of delights still reads exceedingly well (especially for younger readers) and this commemorative edition also includes a couple of added extras.

‘The Toys’ features many of the action figures, packaging and ads for all us kids to salivate over and the whole show concludes with scholarly overview ‘The Birth and Legacy of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars’ which rounds off the cosmic nostalgia-fest by discussing the secret origins of mega-crossovers from crucial prototype Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions to a few of the more memorable descendants such as Civil War, Age of Ultron and Infinityâ€¦

Fast-paced, pretty-looking and impressively action-packed, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars was – and still is – sheer comicbook magic that no true aficionado of Fights ‘n’ Tights fiction can do without.

â„¢ & Â© 1984, 1985, and 2014 Marvel & Subs. Licensed by Marvel Characters B.V. through Panini S.p.A. All rights reserved. A British Edition published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK, Ltd.

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