Sumo


By Thien Pham (First Second)
ISBN: 978-1-59643-581-0

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: just because it’s great… 10/10

This book is about looking.

The magically multi-cultural nature of pictures mixed with words continually generates a wealth of absolutely fantastic and improbable gems for readers with eyes and minds wide open. This deliciously absorbing visual poem only arrived in the review books delivery a few days ago and it’s honestly become one of this year’s favourites – one of the most elegiac and gently enthralling visual experiences I’ve encountered in many a year…

It’s all about pasts and futures…

The tale begins in a Japanese Dojo as another rikishi in training greets the dawn. He does his assigned chores and works out with the other jonokuchi in the heya training stable. Despite his superior strength, size and speed, he is again knocked out. The supervising oyakata is in despair and doubts the spirit and determination of his latest find…

Scott thought he was a big man in every sense of the term, but High School Football glory days never turned into the glittering, lucrative Pro career he dreamed of. So he somehow ended up in his small town ofCampbell with his best buddies, drinking beer and wasting his days.

Then when his adored girlfriend Gwen dumped him, even that shallow, pointless life needed to end. They had been together since grade school…

However, years ago a visiting Japanese Sumo trainer had seen the boy play and never forgotten the warrior spirit he saw displayed in that sports arena. When the venerable gentleman offered a chance for fame and glory, Scott thought long and hard…

With nothing to lose, Scott accepts a bizarre offer: move to Japan and try out as a junior wrestler in the decidedly un-All American enterprise known as Sumo…

This is a hard look at expectations and second chances…

The transition hasn’t been what he expected or hoped for. They dyed his hair and changed his name since all Sumo have professional shikona stage-names and looks. Only now “Hakugei” is failing again and if it wasn’t for the trainer’s daughter Asami and the idyllic occasional break spent fishing, his new life would be as intolerable as his old one…

This story is about striving…

With time fast running out, Hakugei has to decide what he really wants and he has to do it before the last match of the mae-zumo tournament. He has to win at least one bout or be sent home in disgrace …and he’s just lost the fourth one in a row…

It’s all about the buildup towards tension’s inevitable release…

This surprisingly contemplative and lyrical exploration of love, hope, honour and gigantic nearly-naked men bitch-slapping each other in truly explosive manner effortlessly blends and intercuts flashbacks and real time to craft a sublimely skilful and colourfully emotive experience. Cartoonist and teacher Thien Pham (Level Up) hypnotically and enthrallingly marries two wildly disparate worlds to produce an enchanting and thoughtful story that will delight and astound. This is a graphic novel you must read over and over again.
© 2012 Thien Pham. All rights reserved.

The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes volume 1


By Christopher Yost, Scott Wegener Patrick Scherberger & Sandu Florea (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5619-2

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: proper old-fashioned action-adventure for every age of Fights ‘n’ Tights fan… 9/10

Since its earliest days Marvel has always courted the youngest comicbook audiences. Whether through animated movie or TV tie-ins such as Terrytoons Comics, Mighty Mouse, Super Rabbit Comics, Duckula, assorted Hanna-Barbera and Disney licenses and a myriad of others, or original creations such as Tessie the Typist, Millie the Model, Homer the Happy Ghost, Li’l Kids or even Calvin, the House of Ideas has always understood the necessity of cultivating the next generation of readers.

These days, however, accessible child-friendly titles are on the wane and with Marvel the publisher’s proprietary characters all over screens large and small, the company usually prefers to create adulterated versions of its own pantheon, making that eventual longed-for transition to more mature comics as painless as possible.

In 2003 the powers that be created a Marvel Age line which updated and retold classic original tales by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and combined it with the remnants of its failed manga-based Tsunami imprint, which was also intended for a junior demographic. The experiment was tweaked in 2005, becoming Marvel Adventures with core titles transformed into Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man with all-original yarns replacing the reconstituted classics. More titles followed, including Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes, Hulk and The Avengers and these all ran until 2010 when they were cancelled and supplanted by new volumes of Marvel Adventures: Super Heroes and Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man which carried on the newly-established continuities.

Never the success the company hoped, Marvel Adventures was superseded in 2012 by specific comics tied to Disney XD television shows, thereafter designated “Marvel Universe cartoons”, using the television shows to reinterpret key moments of the heroes’ stellar history whilst creating a new generation of readers to be hopefully funnelled into the increasingly archaic-seeming world of paper entertainments.

All the same, these tales are an intriguing and perhaps more culturally accessible means of introducing character and concepts to kids born sometimes two, three even four generations removed from those far-distant 1960s-originating events, and this initial volume of the barnstorming adventure ensemble Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes collects the contents of the first four issues from 2010, scripted by the parent cartoon’s chief writer Christopher Yost.

In short, terse, self-contained and immensely enjoyable romps aimed at kids of 10 and up (parents should note that some of the themes and certainly the level of violence contained in here might not be what everybody considers “All-Ages” action), the greatest champions of the Marvel Universe regularly assemble to save the world from every imaginable menace – and sometimes each other…

The wonderment begins with ‘Adaptation’, illustrated by Scott Wegener which sees freshly thawed WWII hero Captain America coming to terms with life in the 21st century by thrashing international mercenaries Batroc’s Brigade before he and Thor are summoned to aid the team against a bizarre android capable of mimicking their powers, abilities and skills. This is followed by a lower key yarn as Hawkeye and the Black Panther swallow their differences and learn to ‘Trust’ one another in battle against deadly demoness Whiplash in a short, sharp shocker limned by Patrick Scherberger.

The second issue opened with ‘Obsession’ (Wegener art) as Tony Stark‘s ongoing duel with Russian rival Ivan Vanko led to another cataclysmic clash between Iron Man and the deadly Crimson Dynamo. When the collateral damage drew in the rest of the Avengers the battle seemed all but over – until Russian super-team the Winter Guard stepped in claiming prior jurisdiction.

However, even as the dispute with Titanium Man, Ursa Major, Darkstar and Vanguard escalated into all-out war with the Westerners, Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil were waiting in the wings to recruit Vanko to their vile ranks…

The back-up tale ‘Mutual Respect’ (Scherberger with Sandu Florea inks) featured an unlikely team-up between Ant-Man and the Hulk as the malevolent Mad Thinker apparently attempted to co-opt the Jade Juggernaut’s power, but as usual had actually schemes within schemes going on…

Bored Elders of the Universe the Grandmaster and the Collector visited Earth in ‘Savage’ (Wegener) planning to orchestrate a prize fight between Thor and the Hulk, and that titanic tussle of equals was offset by the brutal back-up ‘Courage’ (Scherberger) where flighty socialite the Wasp was forced to fight alone in arctic conditions to save a severely mauled Captain America from the lethal carnivorous Wendigo…

In ‘Team’ (Wegener with full page splash shots by Scherberger) the entire roster was on hand for a deadly full-length duel with the Masters of Evil and marauding giant robot Ultimo but even their incredible final victory was less trouble than satisfying the Wasp’s persistent demands for a suitable team photo…

This tasty treat also includes a wealth of covers, pin-ups, fact-packed character profiles of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man/Giant Man, Hawkeye, Black Panther, close associates and super-spies Nick Fury and the Black Widow and vile villains Baron Zemo, time Conqueror Kang, Baron Strucker, Asgardian god of evil Loki, Ultron, and Masters of Evil Enchantress, Crimson Dynamo and Abomination.

Even then there’s more such as technical gen on ‘Hawkeye’s Bag of Tricks’, the Thunder God’s mystic mallet ‘the Mighty Mjolnir’, Iron Man’s internal systems in ‘Breaking Down the Hud!’ and a quiz daring readers to deduce which villains’ terrible tools belong ‘In Evil Hands!’

Fast-paced and impressive, bright and breezy with lots of light-hearted action and loads of sly laughs, this book truly captures the zest and drive of both traditional comicbook and modern TV superhero shenanigans and will surely delight every unashamed fan of Costumed Dramas whatever their age or inclinations…
© 2010, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sailor Twain or the Mermaid of the Hudson


By Mark Siegel (First Second)
ISBN: 978-1-59643-636-7

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: genuinely unmissable… 10/10

Even after decades in the business every so often something comes along that makes me feel like a drooling delirious fanboy again. This time it’s the superb hardback compilation of a fabulous weird tales webcomic that’s certain to become a certifiable classic.

Mark Siegel was born inMichiganand raised inFrance; one of those story-obsessed prodigies who began drawing wonders as a kid and never grew out of it… only better at shaping them.

After a childhood concocting yarns, comics, cartoons, posters and animated films he returned to the USA to study Creative writing and Fine Arts at Brown University. Upon graduation he stayed stateside, tentatively beginning life as a jobbing designer/illustrator.

He got his big break with the award-winning strip-book Seadogs, written by Lisa Wheeler. This was followed by Long Night Moon, To Dance, Boogie Knights and more.

Increasingly intrigued and fascinated by the history and geography of theHudson RiverValleywhere he lives with wife and creative collaborator Sienna Cherson Siegel, the artist began to craft a lyrically beguiling mystery tale from the glittering, sophisticated and callous brutal days of the Riverboats which once plied their glamorous trade along that famed and fabled watercourse. This he published online at sailortwain.com.

Rendered in mercurial melancholic charcoal tones, Sailor Twain tells the tale of a poet who has lost his muse and becomes a riverboat captain to pay for his invalid wife’s medical treatment.

It’s also the tale of French wastrel Dieudonné who inherited his entrepreneurial older brother’s exclusive, high society river boat business when the inspirational Jacques Henri de Lafayette had a breakdown and vanished…

…And finally, it is the sad and sobering tale of a lady who could not accept her place or fate in a savagely proscribed and repressionistic masculine culture…

Set in the transitional era of 1880s New York where and when science and rationality began at last to supersede wonder, mystery and romance, and specifically during the months May to December 1887, the story opens with an enigmatic meeting in ‘Overture’ before ‘Part I: Twain’s Secret’ begins with ‘The Frenchman’s Steamboat’ as the diligent captain of the luxurious Lorelei recalls how the dissolute young European assumed control of a hugely profitable touring business after the elder Lafayette vanished. Also introduced are below-decks crew Horatio and Aloysius, Negro engineers who know more of the route’s peculiar history than they’re willing to share in ‘An Unlikely Survivor’…

The new owner seems a bad sort. In ‘A Prayer Down Below’, he demonstrates an indecent and almost unhealthy interest in bedding women, but after Twain rescues ‘The Mermaid in the Hudson’ and secretes her battered and wounded body in his cabin the trusty salt’s judgemental world is forever changed.

‘Beaverton’s New Book’ introduces another intriguing strand as a publicity-shy yet popular author’s latest sensational publication offers to reveal the “Secrets and Mysteries of the River Hudson” – everything from love-sick ghosts to the cure for a mermaid’s siren song – to both Twain and his increasingly odd employer.

The Captain, obsessed with ministering to the silent, wounded creature hidden in his cabin, is amazed when he is asked to post ‘Lafayette’s Letter’ to the enigmatic author, whilst in ‘South’s Promise’ Lafayette’s debauched dalliances multiply manically as Twain remembers his far-off wife and how her beautiful voice was stilled by disease. Nevertheless ‘Pearl’s Song’ is slowly being forgotten as the seaman becomes increasingly closer to the mythical beauty recovering in his bunk…

The lascivious Frenchman is rapidly losing touch with reality, constantly throwing messages in bottles to the murky roiling river waters as ‘Three Prisoners’ sees the now voluble sea-woman eagerly communicating with Twain just as Lafayette takes him into his confidences over his amorous actions…

Inspired again to write, Twain’s fevered imagination is sent reeling when he realises his employer is seeking ‘The Cure for Mermaids’ and, thanks to the Beaverton book, discovers his uncanny charge’s origins in ‘South of the North River’…

Entranced in a way no other man has been, the worthy Captain is utterly unaware of how the situation is spiralling madly in ‘The Missing Muse’ after which ‘Part II: Camomille’ takes a closer look at the louche Lafayette when ‘The Beaverton Revelation’ exposes the author’s shocking identity and New York Society gathers itself to take its chilly revenge in ‘Ink Stains’…

Lafayette’s carnal campaign hits a strange snag in ‘“The Dame’s Audacious”’, leading to most peculiar dinner conversation in ‘Eclipse’ and the culmination of long-laid plans in ‘Sevening’, all whilst Twain finds to his horror that his submersible companion has vanished in ‘Enticement’.

Before the tragedy moves towards the impossible endgame, she suddenly returns to assuage ‘The Strains of Absence’ prompting fantastic delirium when ‘Twain Dreams’…

‘Part III: World’s End’ moves fully towards otherworldly experiences ‘In the Other Realm’ of ghosts, drowned men and stranger things where the desperately querulous Twain finds ‘The Lost Brother’, learns of ‘A Lady Beguiled’ and discovers the power of ‘The Chained Heart’ as his tumultuous affair ploughs on to an astonishing denouement…

It all comes crashing down in stormy disaster as ‘Part IV: The Twain Shall Meet’ delivers another dreadful blow to the Captain’s divided heart as he and Lafayette mutually incur and endure ‘The Siren’s Wrath’…

…And with the world reshaped and set to (some sort of) rights, an evocative ‘Coda’ lends fruitful finality to the fearsomely fantastic proceedings…

Intoxicatingly complex, expansive and enchanting, seditiously, scarily seductive, the supernatural odyssey of the Lorelei and its doom-gripped crew is a gloriously baroque and simultaneously gothic epic of unnatural desire and supernal suspense that absolutely unwrites the twee, safely sexy modern mythology of marine maidens and restores to them the dolorous drama of sinister, implacable, irresistible sirens.

A perfect fantasy fable for adults, Sailor Twain is a truly graphic novel that every devoted dark dreamer must read.
© 2012 Mark Siegel. All rights reserved.

Secret Identities


By Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, Jerry Ma & various (The New Press)
ISBN: 978-1-59558-824-1

A little while ago I reviewed Shattered: a splendid anthology of superhero-related stories by and about Asian Americans which, although self-contained, stemmed out of a previous and equally innovative Fights ‘n’ Tights assemblage. Secret Identities was designed to craft an alternative American history and milieu for heroes and villains more in tune with the needs and interests of a vast, neglected sector of the Republic’s readership, and having acquired a copy of that previous tome – still available and worth every penny – I thought I’d share a few further details with you…

Devised and supervised by life-long fans and mature creative types Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow & Jerry Ma, Secret Identities blends enchantingly intimate thoughts and reminiscences about the comics we all grew up knowing with a decidedly fresh approach to old plots, characters and treatments. Featuring the talents of exclusively Asian American creators from comics, the arts, design and computer gaming who smartly re-examine the USA’s signature sequential narrative genre from the social, cultural perspective of a non-WASP, non-Jewish experience, this compilation is a sharply different yet familiar take on the marvellous world of Men in Tights and Women in Control…

Following a close-knit over-arching timeline the book opens with a wonderful Marvel Comics Spoof – The Y-Men #1 – as the editors recall their childhood love affair with costumed characters and reveal how the project really got started. ‘Preface: In the Beginning’ by Jeff Yang & Jef Castro leads seamlessly into the Brave New World as ‘Prologue’ and ‘Driving Steel’ by Yang & Benton Jew take us to the 19th century American West, where immigrant workers struggle to build the trans-continental railroad and Irish Navvies ruthlessly compete with their Chinese counterparts. Sabotage, skulduggery and ill-will run rampant, and only little Negro lad John Henry is party to the fiery true nature of indomitable – and undying – labourer Master Jimson Fo…

‘S.A.M. meets Larry Hama’ by Tak Toyoshima is a breezy interview with the venerable veteran creator on the sense of cartoon affirmative action, after which the saga proper continues with ‘Section One: War and Remembrance’ as Parry Shen & Alexander Tarampi begin to examine the fictional history of Asian American mystery men and metahumans during WWII.

‘9066’ by Jonathan Tsuei & Jerry Ma then details the tragedy of a dedicated crusader who couldn’t get his country to look beyond the colour of his skin and shape of his eyes, whilst in ‘Heroes Without a Country’ (Daniel Jai Lee & Vince Sunico) the same anti-Jap furore almost deprived American super-unit the Sunset Squad of their most valuable asset when raiding a Nazi laboratory of horror…

‘Gaman’ by Jamie Ford & Tarampi reveals the generational fallout of those embattled days to a modern student who learns the hard way just what makes him so different from his school friends, whilst in ‘The Hibakusha’ Shen & Glenn Urieta reveal the secrets and latent dangers of the children born from the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So amazing were they that America’s interned them in Area 52 for years…

Marvel, DC and others generously allowed their characters to appear in the autobiographical sections of this collection, and a big-name writer and movie-maker shared a few insights about creativity with Keith Chow & A. L. Baroza in ‘Re-Directing Comics: Greg Pak’ before debuting his spectacular tension-drenched anti-hero after President Obama pardoned a dishonoured hero and potential assassin in ‘The Citizen’ by Pak & Bernard Chang…

‘Sidekicks: Gene Yang & Michael Kang’ finds the editors debating the Asiatic ghetto of faithful retainerdom (Chow & Baroza) after which ‘The Blue Scorpion & Chung’ by Yang & Sonny Liew provides an outrageous and wryly hilarious alternative to the traditional set-up, whilst the tragic story of ‘James’ (Kang & Erwin Haya) shows that the solution is usually in the assistant’s hands all the time…

‘Section Two: When Worlds Collide’ opens with another take on the strange visitor from an alien world scenario, courtesy of Chow & Chi-Yun Lau, after which another long-established comics creator speaks out in ‘Now There’s Something: Greg LaRoque’ (Chow & Alexander Shen), which leads into a compelling genre-bending fantasy of good, evil and family peccadilloes with ‘Trinity’ written and drawn by LaRoque himself.

‘No Exit’ by Naeem Mohaiemen & Urieta is a beautifully sharp examination of dignity and morality set in a Guantanamo-style camp not so very different from the shamefully real one, whilst ‘S.O.S.’ blends outsourcing to India with the back-office requirements of the busy, cost-conscious American superhero crowd in a delightful yarn from Tanuj Chopra & Alex Joon Kim.

Many of the tales in this tome take place in the modern metropolis of Troy, although New York City is the eventual location of Clarence Koo & Jerry Ma’s ‘The Wallpasser’, which mixes people-trafficking and illegal immigration with dark, super-normal forces and broken families before ‘Section Three: Girl Power’ takes a look at the distaff side of culture and super-society, starting with a hilarious silent and salutary fable from Kripa Joshi, whilst ‘You Are What You Eat’ (Lynn Chen & Paul Wei) finds a cake-loving lass given the greatest possible gift by her aged grandmother… and she can fight crime with it too…

‘Sampler’ by Jimmy Aquino & Haya also confronts long-held assumptions and prejudice when a Troy laundry/dry cleaning store frequented by costumed heroes provides a shy retiring seamstress with the opportunity to use her own long-unsuspected super-power, whilst ‘Learn to Share’ by Keiko Agena & Ming Doyle offers a disturbing look at the ethnic adoption experience through the malfunctioning eyes of a little girl with a dark past and terrifying power…

‘A Day at CostumeCo’ by Yang & Baroza introduces a magical family of metas-in-waiting in a masterfully enticing riff on the theme of superhero dynasties. When Vernon and Vivie Chang finally get rebellious big sister Valerie to accept her true nature All Heck breaks loose, after which Hellen Jo discusses the nature of female furies in ‘Supergrrrls’ before Jason Sperber & Chi-Yun Lau open ‘Section Four: Many Masks’; examining the nature of assumed identities in advance of a brief colour section introducing a barrage of new characters and concepts in one-page pinups.

Meta-merc ‘Agent Orange’ by Dustin Tri Nguyen & Dustin Nguyen is followed by supernatural judge ‘Gaze’ (Sung Kang, Billy Tan, Walden Wong & Sean Ellery) and acupuncture-activated go-girl ‘Flight’ by Ian Kim & Jeff Yang. Adulation-powered ‘Shine’ (Leonardo Nam, Anthony Tan & Ruben de Vela) and immortal avenger ‘Jia’ (Kelly Hu, Mark Allen & Cliff Chiang) are followed by Yul Kwon & Deodato Pangandoyon’s escaped North Korean lab rat ‘Cataclysm’ and one-man alien invasion resister ‘Go’ by Kazu Kibuishi, after which Anthony Wu’s army-of-one ‘Parallel Penny’ closes the file on this tantalising taster of things – hopefully – to come…

Returning to moody monochrome, ‘Section Five: Ordinary Heroes’ begins with Raymond Sohn depicting real folks’ definition of heroes before ‘Just Ordinary’ by Nick Huang & Shen takes a trenchant look at society and the media’s unhelpful expectations of what constitutes a champion, whilst ‘Twilight’ (Ted Chung & Anuj Shrestha) takes a hard look at alienation and self-discovery amidst the aftermath of disaster, and only a little time-travelling intervention at last saves ‘David Kim’ from his annoying match-making parents in a light and lovely super-folks RomCom by John Kuramota & Christine Norrie…

‘Meet Joe’ by Koji Steven Sakai & John Franzese shows how a determined kid-hero can buck both public expectations and family pressure, little So-Geum at last develops a super-power ‘On the Third Day’ (Johann Choi) – although not in the way his pushy parents wanted – and ‘Long’ perfectly captures the sheer exuberant joy of extra abilities in a brash bold pantomime by Martin Hsu. The chapter then closes with ‘Justified’ by Ken Wong & Tiffanie Hwang as a young hopeful innocently upsets ingrained ignorance and complacency during an open audition for aspiring mystery men…

‘Section Six: From Headline to Hero’ commences with a discussion of real-world American Asian heroes by Parry Shen & Jeremy Arambulo, after which ’16 Miles’ by Shen & Sarah Sapang extrapolates a poignant story of love and sacrifice in the midst of total terror whilst ‘Taking Back Troy’ (Yang & Francis Tsai) shows the downside of living with superhumans as a school party night goes tragically bad, before the action ends on a promising introductory note as ‘Peril: By the Time I Get to Arizona’ (Chow & Castro) introduces a desperate young man dragged into a world of impossible danger when the father he never knew goes missing and is branded a traitor. Dr. Won Kin Lun was the world’s greatest authority on super-powers and nano-tech and everybody wants his discoveries – except the unwilling, angry, betrayed son he secretly, arbitrarily inflicted them upon…

In ‘Epilogue’ Yang & Castro pensively wrap things up and consider the future but there’s still much to enjoy here. After full contributor biographies the added attractions start with ‘The One that Got Away’ by Larry Hama and there’s also a selection of Behind the Scenes concept art as well as ‘Our Favourite “Dear John” Letter’ – a brilliant manga cartoon apology for not contributing from eventual and actual contributor Jeremy Arambulo. The immersive experience then ends with a complete time-line chart and annotated score-card, ranging from the portentous beginnings in the 1800s to the unleashed future of 2020 and beyond.

Combining the best aspects of many storytelling traditions and artistic styles, utilised by a volunteer army of talented creators whose origins stem from Asia, India and all points East but whose ethnicity is definitely All-American, Secret Identities began a bold experiment in cultural assimilation that will amaze comics fans in search of something a little different…
Compilation © 2009 Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow and Jerry Ma. Individual pieces © 2009 each author. All rights reserved.

Totally Mad – 60 Years of Humour, Satire, Stupidity and Stupidity


By “The Usual Gang of Idiots” & edited by John Ficarra (Time Home Entertainment)
ISBN: 978-1-61893-030-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: a truly timeless tome bringing back a golden age of laughter – no matter how young you are… 10/10

EC Comics began in 1944 when comicbook pioneer Max Gaines sold the superhero properties of his All-American Comics company to half-sister National/DC, retaining only Picture Stories from the Bible. His plan was to produce a line of Educational Comics with schools and church groups as the major target market.

Gaines augmented this core title with Picture Stories from American History, Picture Stories from Science and Picture Stories from World History, but the so-worthy notion was already struggling when he died in a boating accident in 1947.

With disaster looming, his son William was dragged into the family business and with much support and encouragement from unsung hero Sol Cohen – who held the company together until the initially unwilling Bill Gaines abandoned his dreams of a career in chemistry – transformed the ailing enterprise into Entertaining Comics…

After a few tentative false starts and abortive experiments, Gaines and his multi-talented associate Al Feldstein settled into a bold, fresh publishing strategy, utilising the most gifted illustrators in the field to tell a “New Trend” of stories aimed at an older and more discerning readership.

From 1950 to 1954 EC was the most innovative and influential publisher in America, dominating the genres of crime, horror, war and science fiction, spawning a host of cash-in imitations and, under the auspices of writer, artist and editor Harvey Kurtzman, the inventor of an entirely new beast: the satirical comicbook…

Mad also inspired dozens of knock-offs and even a controversial sister publication, Panic.

Kurtzman was a cartoon genius and probably the most important cartoonist of the last half of the 20th century. His early triumphs in the fledgling field of comicbooks (Mad, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat) would be enough for most creators to lean back on, but Kurtzman was a force in newspaper strips (See Flash Gordon Complete Daily Strips 1951-1953) and a restless innovator, a commentator and social explorer who kept on looking at folk and their doings: a man with exacting standards who just couldn’t stop creating.

He invented a whole new format and gave the USA Populist Satire when he transformed his highly successful full-colour comicbook baby Mad into a mainstream monochrome magazine, safely distancing the outrageously comedic publication from fall-out caused by the 1950s socio-political witch-hunt which eventually killed all EC’s other titles, and bringing the now more socially acceptable publication to a far wider, broader audience.

He pursued his unique brand of thoughtfully outré comedy and social satire with the magazines Trump, Humbug and Help!, all the while conceiving challenging and powerfully effective humour strips such as Little Annie Fannie (for Playboy), The Jungle Book, Nutz, Goodman Beaver, and Betsy and her Buddies. Seemingly tireless, he also inspired the next generation through his creations on Sesame Street and with his teaching of cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He died far too early in 1993.

…And he was just one of the astonishingly gifted creators who have turned Mad into a staggeringly influential cultural phenomenon and global brand in the intervening years…

Just in time to be an ideal gift, and celebrating the history and progress of an institution we all grew up with if not in, Totally Mad reviews the rise and rise of the magazine with tantalising snippets of gags and features accompanied by great big buckets of captivating excerpts and illustrations from the many brilliant creators who have contributed to its success.

Be Warned: this is not a “best of” collection – it would be impossible to choose, and besides there are hundreds of reprint book compilations and websites for that. This is a celebration of past and present glories and a compulsive taster for further exploration, but with very few complete stories…

At 256 pages this huge (312x235mm) and luxurious compendium includes historical articles, hundreds of pages of amazingly funny art and cleverly barbed observations, divided by decades and augmented by hundreds of full-colour, iconic cover reproductions, referencing favourite features such as Spy vs Spy (both by originator Antonio Prohias and successor Peter Kuper), Mad Fold-Ins, Al Jaffee’s ‘Scenes We’d Like to See’, Dave Berg’s ‘The Lighter Side of…’, ‘Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions’, ‘Mad Mini-Posters’, whilst Film and TV parodies include ‘Gunsmoked’, ‘My Fair Ad-Man’, ‘East Side Story’, ‘Flawrence of Arabia’, ‘Star Blecch’, ‘Jaw’d’, ‘Saturday Night Feeble’, ‘LA Lewd’, ‘Dorky Dancing’, and assorted mega-movie franchises ad infinitum…

Whatever your period, and whichever is your most dearly revered, it’s probably sampled here…

Following an eccentric and loving Introduction from Stephen Colbert and Eric Drysdale -illustrated by Sam Viviano – veteran contributor Frank Jacobs provides a photo-packed profile of the magazine’s unique father-figure by asking – and answering – ‘Who Was Bill Gaines?’ after which ‘Mad in the 1950s’ recalls the Kurtzman era with brightly hued extracts from giant ape spoof ‘Ping Pong!’, ‘Superduperman!’, ‘Lone Stranger Rides Again!’, ‘Sound Effects!’, ‘Melvin of the Apes!’, ‘Mad Reader!’, ‘Bringing Back Father!’ and ‘Starchie’, highlighting the talents of Will Elder, Wallace Wood, Jack Davis, John Severin, Basil Wolverton & Bernie Krigstein, before moving into the magazine phase by spoofing advertising and popular pastimes with ‘Readers Disgust’, ‘What Makes a Glass of Beer Taste so Good?’ and more.

Arch-caricaturist Mort Drucker began his stellar run at this time as did the mildly maniacal Don Martin, whilst proven comics masters Joe Orlando, Wood, Davis and George Woodbridge reached astonishing peaks of artistic excellence with a parade of stunning covers and end-pages by Kurtzman, Kelly Freas, Norman Mingo and others proving as effective now as in your granddad’s day…

In ‘Who is Alfred E. Neuman?’, Jacobs recounts the twisted and turbulent origins of the magazine’s iconic gap-toothed-idiot mascot after which ‘Mad in the 1960s’ highlights the rise of Television and the counter-culture whilst ‘Was Mad Ever Sued?’ finds Jacobs  testifying to some truly daft and troubling moments in the mag’s life…

Some of the very best bits of ‘Mad in the 1970s’ is followed by the conclusion of ‘Who Was Bill Gaines?’ after which Davis, Dick DeBartolo & Jacobs’ legendary ‘Raiders of the Lost Art’ skit opens ‘Mad in the 1980s’ as patriotism, movie blockbusters, Hip-hop and computer games seized the public’s collective imagination…

‘What Were the Mad Trips?’ explores a grand tradition of company holidays, after which the transitional years of ‘Mad in the 1990s’ covers Rap music, the rise of celeb culture and the magazine’s forays into a rapidly changing world. This is followed by ‘Mad After Gaines’ which details the internal adjustments that took place following the death of the hands-on, larger-than life publisher in 1992 whilst ‘Mad in the 2000s’ details the brand’s shift into the digital world, with exemplars from creators old and new spoofing medicines, newspaper strips, elections, dead phrases, celebrity causes, religion, cell-phones, man-boobs, war in Iraq, Obesity, satirical rival ‘The Bunion’, contemporary Racism and media sensations Donald  Trump, whilst parodies included ‘Bored of the Rings’, ‘Sluts in the City’, ‘Spider-Sham’, and so much more…

Current editor John Ficarra provides a suitable Afterword and this magnificent tome also includes a poster pack of a dozen of the very best covers from Mad’s epochal run.

Most of you can happily stop now, but if you’re into shopping lists here’s just a small portion of the other contributing “idiots” who have madr the magazine a national institution… like graft and pimples:

Sergio Aragonés is represented throughout with his Mad Marginals as well as many masterful cartoons and pastiches, and writers include Vic Cohen, Tom Koch, Larry Siegel, Nick Meglin, Earl Doud, Lou Silverstone, Jacobs, DeBartolo, Arnie Kogen, Chevy Chase, Marylyn Ippolito, Max Brandel, Stan Hart, Billy Doherty, Barry Liebman, Desmond Devlin, Russ Cooper, Joe Raiola, Charlie Kadau, Robert Bramble, Michael Gallagher, Butch D’Ambrosio amongst so many others.

All-rounders both scripting and scribbling include Dave Berg, Al Jaffee, Aragonés, Don Martin, John Caldwell, Paul Peter Porges, Don “Duck” Edwing, Tom Cheney, Drew Friedman, Peter Kuper, Christopher Baldwin, Feggo and star artists making a splash range from venerable veterans such as Frank Frazetta, John Cullen Murphy and Angelo Torres to Mark Frederickson, Bob Clarke, Gary Belkin, Paul Coker Jr., Mutz, Jack Rickard, Irving Schild, Gerry Gersten, Rick Tulka, Harry North, Richard Williams, Tom Bunk, Bill Wray, Steve Brodner, Mark Stutzman, Tom Richmond, Gary Hallgren… the list is nigh endless.

Wrist-wreckingly huge, eye-poppingly great and mind-bogglingly fun, this is one all the family will be happy to pore through… and probably fight over.
© 2012 E.C. Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Secret History of Coffee, Coca & Cola


By Ricardo Cortés (Akashic Books)
ISBN: 978-1-61775-134-9

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: potent, punchy and thought-provoking fodder to enjoy after overindulging… 9/10

The astounding power of graphic narrative to efficiently, potently and evocatively disseminate vast amounts of information in layered levels has always been best utilised in works with a political or social component. That’s seldom been better demonstrated than in this stunning and scholarly new picture book from Ricardo Cortés.

Born in 1973, illustrator and artistic intellectual activist Cortés has had a sublimely seditious career thus far. He has made waves in Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Post, The Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, and been challenged on CNN and FOX News after his controversial  children’s book Marijuana: It’s Just a Plant – written by Marsha Rosenbaum – was mentioned in Congress. He followed up by illustrating Adam Mansbach’s Times Best-Selling Go the F**k to Sleep and its sequel Seriously, Just Go to Sleep, and created the colouring book I Don’t Want to Blow You Up! about famous Muslims who aren’t terrorists.

In 2011 the artist received a grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Greater New York Arts Development to create Jury Independence Illustrated – a public booklet dealing with Jury Nullification produced with the intention of educating potential jurors about their powers to acquit if they disagree with specific laws or judicial rulings. Clearly a born troublemaker…

His latest project is a brilliantly engrossing exploration of acceptable addictions blending scrupulously scholarly reportage with a seductively beautiful selection of captivating images and historical reproductions.

The story starts with the origins and history of ‘Coffee‘ from its mythic discovery as a berry fruit for goats in Ethiopia, through being taken up by Yemeni traders who disseminated “qahwah” throughout the Islamic world. A proven intoxicant, concerns over its salubrity, morality and legality grew and it was soon being trafficked by desperate men. In the 16th century the beverage was banned in Mecca, Cairo and elsewhere, but its taste and effects were impossible to resist.

By the time “kahveh” reached Turkeytrading in the beans carried the death penalty. As “Coffee” it reached Europein the 17th century, touted as a miracle cure-all for everything from headache to miscarriage and grew explosively into an intellectual’s seditious vice. In 1675 Charles II ordered it suppressed and closedEngland’s Coffee Houses by Royal Edict.

Things got even stranger in 1820 after the alkaloid “Caffe-ine” was finally distilled from the coffee cherry…

The rest of caffeine’s turbulent and torturous legal and commercial progress to today’s status as the world’s most popular stimulant is followed by the story of ‘Cola and Coca’ in which caffeine’s other singularly popular method of natural dissemination is examined.

The Kola Nut of West Africa is amazingly high in the stimulant alkaloid and has been used for centuries – if not millennia – as a energy-intensifying fortifier by the various tribes and nations either by chewing the raw nut or brewing a drink called “cola”.

Cola is one of the most popular ancient beverages on Earth and when in 1886 Dr. John Pemberton devised his own formulation – dubbed Coca-Cola – by adding a dash of coca leaves, his medicinal tonic, after an initial shaky start, grew to become the most monolithic drinks brand on Earth.

…But not, apparently, without a little government help…

Coca originally came from the Andes of South America where for centuries indigenous peoples used the herbal bounty as a pick-me-up. The Indios chewed coca leaves the way we do gum in the west and in 1499 explorer Amerigo Vespucci brought back tales of the wonder herb’s propensity to promote feats of concentration and endurance.

In 1859 Dr. Karl Scherzer returned to Austria after a two-year scientific voyage aboard the Frigate Novara with sixty pounds of coca, as previously requested by German pharmacologists. Soon after doctoral student Albert Niemann isolated from the samples a new alkaloid which he dubbed “Coca-ine”.

This fresh medical marvel, its transparent crystals easily derived from coca leaves, was from 1884 enthusiastically prescribed by the likes of Sigmund Freud for melancholia and oculist Carl Koller discovered it to be an incredible regional (or as we now know them “local”) anaesthetic, allowing unprecedented new surgical procedures to be performed. It was also used as a commonplace treatment for toothache, labour pains, nervousness, fatigue, impotence, asthma and as a cure for morphine addiction – hence Pemberton’s inclusion of the stuff in his health tonic.

By 1889 cases of compulsive use and abuse began to be reported, leading to heated medical debate, and when the era’s obsessive racial concerns were added to the mix (“cocaine made negroes insane” and it was peddled by “greedy Jewish doctors”) the writing was on the puritanical wall for the foreign import.

On a rising tide of public disapproval the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act prohibited Cocaine use and coca importation in theUSA. However due to some truly unbelievable backroom dickering, the already powerful Coca-Cola Company secured a constant supply of the banned substance – re-designated “Merchandise No. 5” – for their Schaefer Alkaloid Works in New Jersey – still thriving today as the Stepan Chemical Company.

This mercantile miracle was all due to diligent work of Commissioner Harry J. Anslinger of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Ralph Hayes, a former aide to theUS Secretary of War and from 1932, a vice President of the Coca-Cola Company.

Anslinger was a rabid anti-drug zealot, so just why did he spend 40 years – under seven different US Presidents – enforcing draconian and often expensive, nigh-impossible bans on a vast number of natural pharmaceutical products whilst actively securing and defending Coca-Cola’s uninterrupted supply of cocaine?

He even facilitated clandestine schemes to grow coca on American soil and his campaign was so successful that American policy became UN and global norms, forcibly negating all the proven scientific benefits of resources which grew naturally in countries which could never afford Western drugs and chemical advances.

Trust me; you only think you know the answer…

Astonishingly addictive and intoxicatingly revelatory, Coffee, Coca & Cola offers an impressively open-minded history lesson and an incredible look at the dark underbelly of American Capitalism. Exposed here through telling research and beguiling illustrations is a catalogue of hypocrisy wherein successive political administrations and big business always found ways to place commercial interests ahead of any specious moral imperative ingenuously forwarded by the “World’s Cop”.

Learn here how corporations and statesmen conspired to ruthlessly crush the traditions, customs and rituals of other nations and cultures (as recently as 2010, America acted to suppress many sovereign South American countries’ social, spiritual, medicinal and nutritional use of coca) and continue to prevent poor countries utilisation of such ancient natural resources as caffeine and cocaine whilst peddling products inescapably wedded to both American Expansionism and Ideology…

A stunning, hard cover coffee-table book for concerned adults, this captivating chronicle is a true treasure – or perhaps in the parlance of the idiom I might just say – lip-smacking, trust-quenching, cool looking, stimulating, motivating, hard talking, fool busting, fast thinking, hard quizzing… and unmissable.
© 2012 Ricardo Cortés. All rights reserved.

Fantastic Four: Extended Family


By Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, John Byrne, Steve Englehart, Walter Simonson, Dwayne McDuffie, John Buscema, Arthur Adams, Stuart Immonen, Paul Pelletier & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-5303-0

The Fantastic Four has long been considered the most pivotal series in modern comicbook history, introducing both a new style of storytelling and a decidedly different manner of engaging the readers’ passionate attention. Regarded more as a family than a team, the roster has changed many times over the years and this long overdue examination from 2011 at last gathered a selection of those comings and goings to form a fascinating primer for new fans looking for a quick catch-up class.

I strongly suspect that it also performed a similar function for doddering old devotees such as me, always looking for a salutary refresher session…

If you’re absolutely new to the first family of super-fantasy, or worse yet returning after a sustained absence, you might have a few problems with this otherwise superb selection of clannish classics featuring not only Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Thing and the Human Torch but also most of the other Marvel stalwarts who have stuck a big “4” on their chests (or thereabouts) and forged ahead into the annals of four-colour heroic history.

However if you’re prepared to ignore a lot of unexplained references to stuff you’ve missed there’s a still a magically enthralling treat on offer in this terrific tome.

The Fantastic Four are – usually – maverick genius Reed Richards, his fiancée (later wife) Sue Storm, their trusty college friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s teenaged brother Johnny, driven survivors of a independently-funded space-shot which went horribly wrong after Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding.

When they crashed back to Earth, the quartet found that they had all been hideously mutated into outlandish freaks. Richards’ body became elastic, Sue gained the power to turn invisible and, eventually, project force-fields, Johnny could turn into living flame, and poor, tormented Ben was mutated into a horrifying brute who, unlike his comrades, could not return to a semblance of normality on command.

This compilation gathers issues #1, 81, 132, 168, 265, 307, 384 and 544 of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” as well as issue #42 from the third volume which began in 1998. Confusingly, the title resumed its original numbering with this tale so it’s also #471.

It all began with the November 1961 premier release  which introduced ‘The Fantastic Four’ by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby and showed the mysterious Dr. Richards summoning his fiancée Sue, their friend Ben and Sue’s brother Johnny before heading off on their first mission. Via flashback we discover their incredible origins and how Cosmic Rays transformed them all into outlandish freaks…

Richards’ body had become impossibly pliable and elastic, Sue could fade away as a living phantom, Johnny could briefly blaze like a star and fly like a rocket whilst tragic Ben had been turned into a shambling, rocky freak. Shaken but unbowed the valiant quartet vowed to dedicate their new abilities to benefiting all mankind.

In ‘The Fantastic Four meet the Mole Man’ they foiled a sinister scheme by another hideous outcast who controlled a legion of monsters and army of subhuman slaves from far beneath the Earth by bravely uncovering ‘The Moleman’s Secret!’

This summation of the admittedly mediocre plot cannot do justice to the engrossing wonder of that breakthrough issue – we really have no grasp today of just how different in tone, how utterly shocking it all was.

“Different” doesn’t mean “better” even here, but the FF was like no other comic on the market at the time and buyers responded to it hungrily. Throughout the turbulent 1960s, Lee & Kirby’s astonishing ongoing collaboration rewrote the book on what comics could be and introduced fresh characters and astounding concepts on a monthly basis.

One such was The Inhumans. Conceived as an incredible lost civilisation and debuting in 1965 (Fantastic Four #44-48) during Stan & Jack’s most fertile and productive creative period, they were a race of disparate (generally) humanoid beings, genetically altered by aliens in Earth’s distant pre-history, who consequently became technologically advanced far ahead of emergent Homo Sapiens.

Few in numbers, they isolated themselves from the barbarous dawn-age humans, first on an island and latterly in a hidden Himalayan valley, voluntarily confined to their fabulous city Attilan – until a civil war brought them into the public gaze.

Old foe and charter member of the villainous Frightful Four, Madame Medusa was revealed as a fugitive member Royal Family of Attilan, on the run ever since a coup deposed her lover – the true king Black Bolt.

With her cousins Triton, Karnak and Gorgon, the rest would quickly become mainstays of the Marvel Universe, but Medusa’s bewitching teenaged sister Crystal and her giant teleporting dog Lockjaw were the real stars of the show. For young Johnny it was love at first sight, and Crystal’s eventual fate would greatly change his character, giving him a hint of angst-ridden tragedy that resonated greatly with the generation of young readers who were growing up with the comic…

Crystal stuck around for many adventures and eventually when the now-married Sue had a baby and began “taking things easy”, the Inhuman Princess became the first official replacement in the team.

From FF #81 (December 1968 by Lee, Kirby & Joe Sinnott) ‘Enter – the Exquisite Elemental’ saw the devastatingly powerful girl join Reed, Ben and Johnny just as incorrigible technological terror The Wizard attacked the team. In blisteringly short orderCrystal promptly pulverized murderous maniac and began a long combat career with the heroes.

After untold centuries in seclusion, increasing global pollution levels began to attack the Inhumans’ elevated biological systems and eventually Crystalhad to abandon Johnny and return to Attilan. By the time of Fantastic Four #132 (March 1973) Lee & Kirby had also split up and Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Sinnott were in charge of the show.

The concluding chapter of a 2-part tale, ‘Omega! The Ultimate Enemy!’ described how Crystal, her brand new fiancé Quicksilver and the rest of the Inhumans were attacked by their genetically-programmed slave-race the Alpha Primitives, seemingly at the behest of Black Bolt’s diabolical brother Maximus the Mad.

The truth was far stranger but the strife and struggle resulted in Medusa returning toAmericawith the team…

The more things changed the more they stayed the same, however, and by FF#168 (March 1976) Sue was back but the Thing was forcibly retired. ‘Where Have All the Powers Gone?’ by Thomas, Rich Buckler & Sinnott revealed how Ben had been reverted to normal, pedestrian humanity due to radiation exposure and a blockbusting battle with the Hulk and, deprived of the Thing’s sheer power, Reed had enlisted Hero for Hire Luke Cage as a replacement.

However the embittered Grimm simply couldn’t adjust to a life on the sidelines and when brutal bludgeoning super-thug Wrecker went on a rampage the merely mortal Ben risked life and limb to prove he could still play with the big boys…

After years in the creative doldrums the FF were dynamically revitalised when John Byrne took over scripting and illustrating the feature. Following a sequence of bold innovations the creator used the company wide crossover ‘Secret Wars’ to radically overhaul the team, and issue #265 (April 1984) revealed the big change in a brace of short tales re-presented here. Firstly in ‘The House That Reed Built’ the group’s Baxter Building HQ was the star as the automated marvel diligently dealt with a sinister home-invasion by Frightful Four alumnus The Trapster, after which Sue Richards was introduced to the Thing’s replacement (Ben having remained on the distant planet of The Beyonder for personal reasons) as the greenly glamorous She-Hulk joined up in ‘Home Are the Heroes’.

Jumping to October 1987, Fantastic Four #307 offered the most radical change yet as Reed and Sue retired to the suburbs to raise their terrifyingly mega-powered son Franklin, leaving the long-returned Thing to lead a team that consisted of the Human Torch, old flame Crystal and troubled super-strong Amazon Sharon Ventura who used the sobriquet Ms Marvel. However, before they even had a chance to shake hands, the new team was bitterly battling arcane alchemist Diablo in the gripping thriller ‘Good Bye’ by Steve Englehart, J. Buscema & Sinnott…

An even bigger shake-up occurred during Walter Simonson’s run in the gimmick-crazed ’90s. In an atmosphere of dwindling sales, high-profile stunts became the norm in comics as companies, realizing that a large sector of the buying public thought of themselves as canny “Investors”, began exploiting their readership’s greed and credulity.

A plot twist, a costume change, a different format or shiny cover (or better yet covers: plural), anything – just so long as The Press got hold of it – translated directly into extra sales. There are many stories and concepts from that era which (mercifully) may never make it into trade paperbacks and collections, but there are some that deserved to, did, and really still should be.

Simonson was writing (and usually drawing) the venerable flagship title with the original cast happily back in harness and abruptly interrupted his high-tech, high-tension saga with a gloriously tongue-in-cheek graphic digression. Three issues, #347-349, poked gentle fun at the trend-meisters and speculators, consequently becoming some of the “hottest” comics of that year.

Reprinted here from FF #347 (December 1990) is that splendid first chapter ‘Big Trouble on Little Earth’ (illustrated by Arthur Adams & Art Thibert, assisted by Gracine Tanaka) which revealed how a Skrull outlaw invaded Earth, with her own people hot on her viridian high heels. Evading heavy pursuit she attacked the Fantastic Four and seemingly killed them. Disguised as a mourning Sue Richards she then recruited the four best-selling heroes in the Marvel Universe – Spider-Man, The Hulk, Wolverine and Ghost Rider – to hunt down “the murderers” as The NEW Fantastic Four!

Their hunt took them to the bowels of the Earth and into battle with the Mole Man, and revealed fascinating background into the origins of monsters and supernormal life on Earth.

What could so easily have been a cheap stunt was elevated not only by the phenomenal art of Adams but also the lovingly reverential script, which referenced all those goofy old ‘Furry-Underpants Monsters’ of immediate pre-FF vintage, and was packed with traditional action and fun besides. Sadly only the first pulse-pounding chapter is included here but you really should track down the entire tale as seen in Fantastic Four: Monsters Unleashed…

Roster change became a constant during that desperate decade. When Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan & Danny Bulandi took over the series they tried every trick to drive up sales but the title was in a spiral of commercial decline. Reed was dead – although Sue refused to believe it – and Franklinhad been abducted. Her troubled fellow survivors had their own problems. Johnny had discovered his wife Alicia was in fact the Skrull infiltrator Lyja, Sharon Ventura was missing and Ben had been mutilated in battle and taken to obsessively wearing a full-face helmet at all times.

In #384’s (January 1994) ‘My Enemy, My Son!’, Sue hired Scott Lang AKA Ant-Man to act as the team’s science officer whilst she led an increasingly compulsive search for her lost love. No sooner had the new boy arrived than Franklin reappeared, grown to manhood and determined to save the world from his mother, whom he believed to be possessed by a malign spirit named Malice…

Following the crossover event “Onslaught” the FF were excised from Marvel’s continuity for a year. When they returned rebooted and revitalised in 1998, it was as Stan & Jack first envisioned them in a brand-spanking new volume.

Always more explorers than traditional crimebusters, the FF were constantly voyaging to other worlds and dimensions. In Volume 3, #42 (June 2001 and double-numbered as #471) Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Marin, Jeff Loeb, Stuart Immonen & Wade von Grawbadger offered a blistering battle between the Torch and old frenemy Namor the Sub-Mariner which raged through New York City whilst Reed, Sue and Ben were lost in the Negative Zone. Strapped for allies, the two then formed an alliance against mutual foe Gideon with Johnny re-recruiting Ant-Man and She-Hulk before accepting the Atlantean’s cousin Namorita as the latest part-time member of the Fantastic Four…

This meander down memory lane concludes with another major overhaul, this one stemming from the publishing event The Initiative in 2007.

Fantastic Four #544 (March of that year) featured ‘Reconstruction: Chapter One – From the Ridiculous to the Sublime’ by Dwayne McDuffie, Paul Pelletier & Rick Magyar, with Marvel’s first family bitterly divided after the events of the superhero Civil War.

After years of stunning adventures, the close-knit group split up after the Federal Superhuman Registration Act divided them; Reed siding with the Government and his wife and brother-in-law joining the rebels. Ben, appalled at the entire situation, dodged the whole issue by moving toFrance…

A story-arc from issues FF #544-550 (originally running as ‘Reconstruction’) began in the aftermath in a group reconciliation, but with temperaments still frayed and emotional wounds barely scabbed over…

When Reed and Sue attempted to repair their damaged marriage by way of a second honeymoon to the moon of Titan – courtesy of the Eternal demi-gods who inhabited that artificial paradise – on Earth, Ben and Johnny were joined by temporary houseguests Black Panther and his new wife Ororo, the former X-Man Storm.

The royal couple of Wakanda had been forced to leave their palatial New York embassy after it was bombed, but no sooner had they settled in than old ally Michael Collins – formerly the cyborg Deathlok – came asking for a favour.

A hero named Gravity had sacrificed his life to save Collins and a host of other heroes and his body was laid to rest with full honours. But now, that grave had been desecrated and the remains stolen. When the appalled New FF investigated, the trail led directly into intergalactic space…

After visiting the Moon and eliciting information from pan-galactic voyeur Uatu the Watcher, the new questing quartet travelled to the ends of the universe where cosmic entity Epoch was covertly resurrecting Gravity to become her latest “Protector of the Universe”.

Unfortunately she wasn’t likely to finish her magic as the Silver Surfer and Galactus’ new herald Stardust were attacking the sidereal monolith, preparatory to her becoming the World-Eater’s next meal…

For the rest of that epic you’ll need to seek out Fantastic Four: the New Fantastic Four…

With a full cover gallery and pin-ups by Steve Epting & Paul Mounts, this power-packed primer and all-action snapshot album is a great way to reacquaint yourself with or better yet discover for the first time the comicbook magic of a truly ideal invention:  the Family that Fights Together…
© 1961, 1968, 1973, 1976, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2001, 2007, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Brain Eaters Bible – Sound Advice for the Newly Reanimated Zombie


By J. D. McGhoul with Pat Kilbane, Brian Ulrich, Dean Jones, Neil D’Monte & others (St. Martin’sGriffin)
ISBN: 978-1-250-02401-5

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: an ideal antidote for adult over-indulgence… 8/10

With the world in the dry, dusty grip of a Zombie Apocalypse and at least oneAmericanUniversityoffering Zombie Studies as part of its curriculum, it was only a matter of time before the perhaps misunderstood flesh-addicted revenants gained their own advocate for their particular post-lifestyle.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of zombie stories but occasionally something really tasty comes along and I’m forced to re-evaluate my position. Such an item is this wryly outrageous almanac from comedian, author and actor Pat Kilbane (Mad TV, Seinfeld, Semi-Pro, My Name Is Earl), a vast production team of artists, designers, photographers, make-up and FX folk, actors, models, martial artists, stuntmen and armourers, and ex-lab technician J.D. McGhoul who, since his passing, has worked tirelessly as an activist and educator for the burgeoning population of meat-seeking martyrs whose only hope is for a little piece – preferably of frontal, temporal or parietal lobe…

Together this dedicated group have merrily compiled a deliciously morbid foundation class in everything the newly-infected but so much more than brain-dead “walker” needs to keep unfit, unwell and full…

Although nobody living really knows the origins of the PACE (Postmortem Ambulation with Cannibalistic Encephalophilia) virus – the unsavoury savant here attributes it to stem-cell research gone wonky – the effects are obvious, apparent and permanent.

Thus there are plenty of sagacious asides about the worthlessness of moisturisers but extreme necessity of Febreze™, the commonsense of keeping your head covered, the pros and cons of working in groups and the necessity of never, ever underestimating the cunning and nastiness of the “Freshies” who constitute your preferred fodder…

Following the introspective Introduction and ‘Mouthful of Mud’ – the first of seven insightful Journal Entries about the unlife of the undead from Mr. McGhoul – the first comprehensive chapter Eat Brains describes in piercing detail ‘A Way of Life’, the ‘Reasons for Eating Brains’, ‘Only Live Brains; Only Human’, mind you, and then advises ‘Listen to your Cravings’, ‘Types of Brains’, ‘A Tough Nut’, ‘Brain Bits for the Connoisseur’ and ‘Health Concerns’ before discoursing ‘On Cannibalism’ and recommending ‘Just Love It’…

Know Your Body deals with ‘A New You’, ‘The PACE Infection’, how ‘A Plague is Born’, ‘Infection’, ‘Zombie Organs’, ‘Bodily Capacities’ and ‘Other Anatomical Facts’ whilst Hunt deals with ‘Brain Acquisition’, ‘Our Right to Make People Extinct’, ‘Pack Hunting’, ‘Ambush Hunting’, ‘New Principles of Combat’, ‘Close Combat Attack Techniques’, ‘Using Firearms’, ‘Using Other Weapons’ and offers some ‘Final Thoughts on Hunting & Combat’.

Interspersed with and following more plangent Journal Entries‘Hell’s Ragged Edge’, ‘Bitter and Raw’ and ‘Headhunter Laureate’, chapter 4 details how to Know Your Enemy: categorising the types and tactics of ‘Your Opposition in War’, ‘Sizing Them Up’ and pictorially detailing ‘Human Weaponry’‘Handguns’, ‘Submachine Guns’, ‘Rifles and Carbines’, ‘Shotguns’, ‘Bows and Arrows’, ‘Thrown Weapons’, ‘Swung Weapons’ and ‘Thrusting Weapons’, before demonstrating ‘Human Combat Training’, ‘The Human Fear Response’, ‘Human Vulnerabilities’ and how in the end they are ‘Their Own Worst Enemy’.

‘Whom Shall I Fear’ is another inspiring extract from the author’s Journal Entries after which Move Your Head offers ‘A Defensive Mantra’, ‘Protective Stances’, ‘Self-Defense Techniques’, what is best when ‘Fighting Multiple Foes’, the merits of ‘Zombie Headgear’, ‘Serpentining’, ‘The Invisible Hunter’, how to be ‘The Elusive Traveller’ and why one must learn to ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Smell’, ‘Destroy Captured Assets’ and ‘Leave No Witnesses’…

From the Journal Entries comes the philosophy of ‘Self-Knowledge’ whilst the spiritual aspect and overarching mission of the Zombie Way is detailed in Infect Others as ‘The Four I’s’‘Ingest’, ‘Infect’, ‘Inject’ and ‘Instruct’ before the final Journal Entry‘My Brother’s Maker’ reveals the aspirational hope that one day the world can be theirs…

Ostensibly written by erudite undead philosopher J.D. McGhoul, and with a savagely detached tongue firmly embedded in a torn and ragged cheek, this tome delivers a devilishly sly and hilarious fresh take on the undead, told with devastating, deadpan delivery and Goriously illustrated with photos, diagrams and drawings: a uproarious, marvellously authentic treat for every mordantly shambling horror fanatic and bleakly black humourist…

And if you can’t sleep at night just wear a steel crash helmet and keep telling yourself “Zombies don’t exist”.  You’ll be fine.

Probably.
© 2010 Mythodrome Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Adventures in Cartooning Christmas Special!


By James Sturm, Andrew Arnold & Alexis Frederick-Frost (First Second Books)
ISBN: 978-1-59643-730-2

Win’s Christmas Recommendation: a superb, truly interactive introduction to parental peace and perfect happiness – and no need for batteries to be included… 9/10

There are a host of books both academic and/or instructional, designed to inculcate a love of comics whilst offering tips, secrets and an education in how to make your own sequential narratives. There are precious few that do it with such style, enthusiasm and cunning craft as the far-too-occasional releases by the meritorious masters of the Adventures in Cartooning crowd.

Prolific and prestigious James Sturm has created a wealth of superb comics and graphic novels, worked for Raw, founded alternative news-mag The Stranger, established his own publishing house Bear Bones Press, and in 1997 he became a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. In 2004, with Michelle Ollie, he set up the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont; an educational institution dedicated to excellence in the narrative arts and current custodian of The Schulz Library (an American repository of rare comics, strips, books graphic arts and cartoons honouring the legendary creator of Peanuts).

In conjunction with Center graduates Andrew Arnold & Alexis Frederick-Frost in 2009, Sturm began a series of captivatingly bright and breezy books, cunningly contrived to lure youngsters into a life of line-drawing and full-colour story-making by making the lessons part-and-parcel of a fabulous magical excursion.

Now with the season of giving and kids bored-to-death-by-lunchtime upon us again, the quick-on-the-draw cartoon elf, his fractious friend the Princess Knight, their dragon and an overly sturdy steed return to help out Santa Claus in his darkest moment of existential doubt…

The stout Samaritan is wistfully pining for the good old days as his legion of diminutive helpers switches from crafting trusty toys and good old gadgets to writing code and packaging the electronic games, video clips, digital downloads and ubiquitous iWants Apps that modern children keep crying out for.

Convinced that this modern fascination is insubstantial and insufficient, Santa seconds the Magical Cartooning Elf and together they craft and construct a solid storybook for children to enjoy over and over again.

The crafty contributors assemble a torrent of tales all in rhyme so the readers will have the best of times.

There’s a snowman abominable and that valiant knight, plus kids who are giants and their tree of great height.

There’s a trip into space to capture a star and secrets of printing and distributing afar…

Once Santa’s happy that the book’s in the bag he assembles his team but hits a great snag.

Since the Yule’s now electric the Reindeer have retired, until enter the Dragon and that tubby old nag…

Zapped with Elf magic they deliver the books which are greeted with wonder not petulant looks.

All over the world kids are engrossed, and soon send their own comics back to Santa by post…

Seriously though: this book does include a handy “how-to” section, a selection of kid’s own creations and readers and purchasers are invited to send their works to Kris Kringle‘s newest recruits in Vermont at the Center for Cartoon Studies…

Aimed at ages 6 and above, this delightful, inspiring, inclusive and just plain fun book is a cheap, cheerful and potentially life-altering tome that could stop your youngsters from scribbling on walls and redirect that raw creativity onto safe, rewarding pages where we can all enjoy the fruits of their labours…
© 2012 James Sturm, Andrew Arnold & Alexis Frederick-Frost. All rights reserved.

Demeter & Persephone: Spring Held Hostage – A Greek Myth


By Justine & Ron Fontes, Steve Kurth & Barbara Schulz (Graphic Universe)
ISBN: 978-1-58013-318-0,     978-0-82256-570-3

The heroic tales and legends of older cultures have, for centuries formed an integral part of children’s educational development – and a good thing too. These days though, those magnificently inspiring and memorably visual yarns are as likely to be disseminated in graphic novel form as through the illustrated prose books which had such a formative influence on my early days.

Demeter & Persephone: Spring Held Hostage was released in 2007, one self-contained tome in a larger series which also retold in comics other Hellenic myths such as the Labours of Hercules, Jason’s journey with the Argonauts as well as other cultures’ founding fables like Isis & Osiris or King Arthur.

Packaged as full-colour, 48 page, card-cover booklets they – hopefully – introduced a wealth of kids to the magical riches of human imagination.

They also read very well as comics in their own right.

All religious stories are devised to explain away contemporary unsolved questions and unknowable mysteries. The liturgical lesson retold here was one people’s attempt to rationalise the progress of the seasons and the man-made miracle of agriculture, opening in the paradisiacal golden age of ‘A Winterless World’ where, thanks to the joyful bounty of the goddess Demeter, plants bloomed all year long and the Earth was bathed in perpetual warmth. The harvest goddess’ greatest joy was her glorious daughter Persephone, offspring of one of Zeus’ constant infidelities with any deity, supernatural creature or mortal he took a fancy to…

The supreme god ruled over the skies and Earth whilst his brothers Poseidon and Hades controlled the seas and underworld respectively. However, when the dolorous, lonely Lord of the Dead saw Persephone he wanted her for his wife – and callous, unthinking Zeus told him to just steal her and take her down to ‘The Dark Domain’ he ruled…

Despite her plight, Demeter’s daughter found a great deal that was admirable about Hades and his vast kingdom of judgement, punishment and reward. However, knowing how perilous her fate was, Persephone refused to eat anything that her embarrassed abductor offered, knowing that to do so would bind her to him forever…

In the bright lands above, Demeter frantically searched for her child. Discovering how Persephone had been taken, the Harvest Goddess pleaded with Zeus who refused to intervene, prompting her to abandon the pantheon’s home on MountOlympus. She wandered the Earth as ‘A Worried Mother’ and in the guise of a broken old woman became the nurse to Prince Demophoon of Eleusis, infant son of King Celeus.

Months passed whilst Demeter neglected the world’s lush abundance, defiantly ignoring the desperate pleas of man and god alike. Plants withered and starvation gripped the Earth, and on Olympus the crisis at last forced Zeus to act. He despatched messenger god Hermes to the underworld to negotiate with Hades and a compromise was reached.

‘The Seeds of Change’ saw a now reluctant Persephone leave the abductor she had come to care for. In all that time she had eaten nothing but as they parted she swallowed a few pomegranate seeds from a fruit Hades offered as final gesture…

Even whilst back in the clean air above, this caused great consternation as their consumption gave Hades a legitimate claim to Persephone. Moreover, she had come to love him but as her mother refused to be separated from her, her marriage to Hades would have doomed mankind to starvation.

‘The Pomegranate Problem’ was only solved by Rhea, mother of all gods, who suggested that the lovers should marry but that Persephone must spend two thirds of each year with her mother who would then cause the world’s plants to germinate, blossom, grow and ripen. After that the daughter would spend four months with her husband in the underworld, with Earth consequently becoming temporarily cold, dark and bleakly barren…

Satisfied with the solution but plagued by guilt, Demeter eventually returned to Eleusis where the baby Demophoon had grown to manhood. Here she taught her human charge the secrets of cultivation and plant improvement and the prince travelled the Earth, sharing his divinely-bestowed knowledge of agriculture to a grateful and eager humanity…

Engrossing, dynamic, pretty and blessed with a light touch, this splendid introduction to mythology is designed for kids with a reading age of nine or above – that’s Year 4, I suspect – and also contains a full glossary, a Further Reading and relevant websites list, and an index as well as fact-features on Creating Demeter & Persephone and biographies of the creators.
© 2007 Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. All rights reserved.